Slowing Sound
by ZacJ4321
Summary: Upon realizing he can no longer risk not getting help controlling his powers, Ryan seeks out the assistance of Prefessor X. When he arrives, he quickly becomes friends with Rogue, the resident goth. Little does he know, she can tell that his powers aren't the only secret he keeps, and she intends to find out exactly what he's hiding.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, guys, Donnie here from Digital Rebellion. I'd like to say thanks for staying through the entirety of the video, we here at Digital Rebellion really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to watch us perform. Unfortunately, I have some bad news. Due to some recent complications, I'll be taking a leave of absence from the band for the foreseeable future. I can't get into the details at the moment, but rest assured, I will be back eventually. Until then, keep rocking. This is Donnie, signing out."

The young man then lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Closing his laptop, he looked around his room. Earlier in the month, you could tell it housed an aspiring musician as it had posters covering the walls while an amp and guitar sat next to his desk where a trash bin overflowing with crumpled papers usually sat. Above said desk would normally be his abnormally large collection of guitar picks. Now, however, most of his possessions sat in suitcases next to his door. Turning his gaze to his hand, he watched as it shakes far to fast for any normal human.

"Ryan, are you sure about this?" asked a short middle-aged woman at his door. She wore the face of a worried mother seeing her child off to the next chapter of their life.

He looked up at her and nodded then turned his gaze back to his hand, "It's time I learn to control my powers. Properly. And the only way to do that is by going to this institute."

Meanwhile, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, many of the students were just waking up and going through their typical morning routine. One such person was a young woman by the name of Anna Marie, also known as Rogue.

An audible groan can be heard escaping her lips as she plugs her earbuds in and enters the kitchen to fix her breakfast. Grabbing a plate from the cupboard, she absentmindedly puts food on it, all the while scrolling through her music playlist on her phone.

Taking a seat at the table, she finally settles on a new single that was recommended to her by YouTube and begins to eat. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to be swept away by the opening guitar riff of "Sick of Me" by Digital Rebellion. Thoroughly surprised at the talent of the relatively new band, she allowed a faint smile appear on her face as she ate.

As the song wound down she looked back to her phone to find another song of theirs, wondering if the magic from the first song was a fluke or if they were just that good. She quickly settled on a song called "Censored" and was hooked by the first chorus. Unfortunately, she was dragged out of her musically induced coma by the sound of knuckles knocking on the table she was sitting at. Looking up in annoyance, she was met with a grin from one of her closest friends, a quirky brunette by the name of Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat.

"Hey, Rogue, whatcha listening to?" she asked as she plucked one of her earbuds out.

"Digital Rebellion, you wouldn't like them," replied Rogue as she took back her earbud before Kitty could listen in on her music.

Crossing her arms and trying her best to look offended, "How do you know? I might like them more than you."

Letting out a slight laugh, Rogue closed her eyes and replaced the earbud back in her ear, "Because they're metal, and if I recall, you hate metal with a passion."

Leaning down to Rogue, she once again took one of her earbuds and put it in her ear just as Rogue pressed the play button. Startled at the sudden explosion of guitars and drums, Kitty immediately removed the earbud, "You're right," she said as she rubbed her ear, "Do you have to listen to music that loudly though? Maybe that's why you never hear us when we try to talk to you."

Rogue just smiled as she once again put her earbud back in and shrugged as she finished eating her breakfast. Putting her phone in her pocket, she took her plate to the sink and rinsed it off, all the while jamming out to Digital Rebellion and other such bands that now had permanent spots in her playlist.

Once done, she turned back around as two of their colleagues entered the room. One was a brunette male, the other was a redhead female, both being a few inches taller than her. Looking to the male, whom she knew was Scott Summers, she nodded and immediately turned her gaze to the redhead as she attempted to push her crush on the young man far into the back of her mind. While Scott happened to be the target of her affection, the redhead next to him known as Jean Grey, was the bain of her existence. She was perfect in every way imaginable, or at least that's how Rogue saw it. She knew she had no chance at taking Scott from her, but that didn't stop her from pining over him, hoping one day to have a chance at him.

Wasting no time, however, Jean spoke up, "Hey, we're leaving to go pick up a guy in Iowa. The Professor said he needed us to go pick him up."

Raising an eyebrow, Rogue spoke up, "Okay, you're telling us this why? Usually, it's the Professor, Storm, Scott and you who go to pick them up. Why tell us?"

Crossing her arms, Jean turned to Rogue, "Because the Professor told us to come and get you two. Instead of Storm and him, It will be me, Scott, Kitty and you that go pick him up."

"Well that's just peachy, but why us?"

"Because the two of you are fairly good examples of what the institute can do to help teach mutants how to control their powers. Scott and I are going along because the Professor wants to see if we can do this on our own."

Sighing, Rogue nodded, "Fine. Let's get going, I forgot to put my phone on charge last night and I don't want it dying before we get back."

Content with Rogue's compliance, Jean turns to Kitty, who immediately nods. With a small smile, she turns and begins to leave, "Meet us at the X-Jet in 10 minutes. I want to be back to enjoy my Saturday as soon as possible too."

Making their way to the X-Jet hangar, Kitty and Rogue meet up with Jean and Scott and board the plane. Taking their seats, the four soon take off, making their way to Iowa. Sighing, Rogue looked at her phone as her music soon became the only thing she could hear. _This is so boring. Why do I have to go? Kurt would be just as good of an example._ Rogue groaned as she allowed her thoughts to wander aimlessly before her curiosity peaked, remembering she knew nothing of the new band she had only recently begun listening to.

Typing the name into the search browser on her phone, she was quickly led to the band's Wikipedia page, only to see one name under the member's section. Donnie. _Guess he hasn't revealed his last name yet._ Scrolling down the page, she quickly realized a lack of information on the only known member. All that had been given was an age range and a general description of how he looked.

She was then about to exit the browser when a phrase in the top of the next paragraph caught her eye. _Based in the midwestern United States, likely Iowa based on some information gathered from a Reddit AMA done by Donnie, the lead singer of the band._ Taking a moment to wrap her head around why the sentence had caught her attention, she remembered their destination. Iowa. Snickering to herself, she passed the coincidence off as just that, a coincidence.

The X-Jet landed not long after Rogue exited the browser and went back to listening to the massive playlist she had built up over the years.

I should really split up my playlist into a bunch of smaller ones, she thought as she stepped out onto the grass of a defilade near their destination.

"Okay guys, we hoof it from here. Shouldn't be more than about 20 minutes of walking," said Jean as Scott and her started walking.

Kitty and Rogue soon followed, the former without the slightest hint of displeasure while the latter followed behind her, sighing in annoyance. Checking her battery, Rogue soon found was a mistake as she saw she had a mere two percent, _Great._

The journey turned out not to be anywhere near as long as previously thought as the group reached the town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in only a few minutes. Walking the streets, Rogue and Kitty looked as lost as they could be, their only source of direction being Jean as she walked confidently through the streets alongside Scott.

Averting her eyes, Rogue gritted her teeth as she followed her colleagues, trying to once again push the thoughts of her brunette team leader out of her mind. At least for the moment. Unfortunately for Rogue, it seemed that no matter where she looked, she was met with yet another happy couple. The one thing she never seemed to get to be a part of, no matter how hard she tried.

Sighing, Rogue shook her head, momentarily accepting the idea that Scott would never be hers. Raising her head once more, she barely managed to stop herself from bumping into Kitty as she and the others had stopped in front of a somewhat decent size house, in a neighborhood she hadn't realized they had entered.

"This must be the place," spoke Scott as he made his way towards the front door. Jean soon followed, Kitty and Rogue not far behind. While the others stepped onto the porch, Rogue stayed at the steps, examining the outside of the decently well kept home. Up the steps and to the right, she watched a swing sway in the light breeze. Shifting her gaze a bit, she looked at the porch as a whole.

 _Looks like it was repainted recently. Nice to see someone putting effort into making their home last._ Looking at the base of the steps, she noticed the small flower bed on each side of the steps with an almost never-ending array of different color flowers. Her concentration was interrupted as the front door opened, revealing a short woman with brown hair and a blatantly forced smile.

"Hello?" she asked, sounding as if she was prepared to slam the door and run at the first movement.

Taking the initiative, Jean spoke up, "Hello ma'am. We're from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. We're here to pick up a young man by the name of Ryan Lindsay."

Nodding the woman stepped out of the way, gesturing the four into the home. As Rogue entered the living room, she took note of the handful of picture frames hanging on the walls in various places. Some of which were family portraits, while others were of a boy, each with a guitar of sorts in hand. One frame, in particular, caught her eye, however. The picture in question looked as if it had been taken outside at the garage disconnected from the house with four teenage boys, arms linked with various musical equipment in the background.

Noticing Rogue's interest in the picture, the woman speaks up, "Ah yes, Ryan has always been the musical type. Always practicing or trying to write a new song. I don't know where he gets it from," she added with a small chuckle.

The woman's smile soon faded however as she remembered the reason these people were standing in her living room. Holding up one finger, she heads up the stairs in the corner, leaving the four teenagers in the living room alone.

"Ah, you must be the folks from the institute," a much deeper voice spoke coming from the opposite doorway. There stood a man, much taller than the woman presumed to be his wife. Although through his much rougher exterior, it could be seen that the events of the day were already taking its toll on the man as it had the woman.

Nodding, Scott approached the man and extended his hand, "Yes sir we are. If you don't mind me asking, what can you tell us of your son? All that we were told was to come pick him up. We weren't informed of what his powers were or anything."

Taking Scott's hand with a firm shake, the man nods. "Well, there really isn't much to say other than he's, really fast. A blur even. He used to be able to control himself, but now," the man pauses, "Now it's on a day to day basis. Some days are better than others. Like today, for example, walking is somewhat fine for him but, doing things like reaching out to grab something is a bit difficult for him."

Confused, Jean takes her spot at Scott's side, "How is what I assume is super speed affecting his day to day life so negatively?"

"My only guess is that his body is moving faster than his mind can keep up with and leads to him just being confused. Trust me, it's much worse on days where he has trouble controlling himself when walking. He just goes flying into walls and doors. And that's if he doesn't collapse from going for too long." said the man as he took a seat in a recliner in the corner of the room and gestured towards the couch.

Interest peaked, Rogue takes her chance to speak, "What do you mean by collapse?"

The man only shrugged, "My best guess is that yet again, his brain isn't comprehending the speed that he's moving at, and isn't adjusting to it. The faster and longer he moves, the more oxygen he needs. However, his brain doesn't realize that and isn't trying to compensate for that need, leading to him collapsing and usually passing out from oxygen deprivation."

"You seem like you know a lot more about your son's condition than most people would," spoke Jean.

"We've always been in contact with Professor Xavier. We've had years to figure out the specifics."

"Wait, then why are you only now contacting us to come pick him up? We could have been helping him this entire time towards controlling his power," said Scott.

A sigh could then be heard from the stairs. Turning, they saw it was the woman from before. "You're too young to understand. We tried for so long to have a child of our own, years even. We were so happy when our family was finally complete." Stepping over to a shelf by the staircase, she picks up a picture frame with a much younger version of the couple in a hospital room, with a baby in the woman's arms. "It's selfish of us I know. But I couldn't bear the thought of our baby growing up without his parents. So, with the help of the Professor, we raised him ourselves. All while trying to teach him how to control his powers in the process."

Silence then engulfed the room, no one sure of what to say. Thankfully, the silence would not last long as they heard a new set of footsteps coming down the stairs. With bags in hand, a man about Scott's height descended the stairs and slowly came into view. As he came more into view, Rogue took mental notes on his attire. _Sneakers. Black jeans with a chain, that is probably attached to his wallet. Leather jacket with a hood? Who is crazy enough to wear that in the middle of May?_ Her curiosity was then pushed to the back of her mind as she heard the thump his belongings made when he dropped them on the floor at the foot of the stairs.

With a slight hair flip, he grinned, "Sup."

Stepping to his side and placing her hand on the back of her son, who stood a few inches taller, she spoke, "This is our son, Ryan. He can be a bit, um, rough around the edges I suppose."

Slumping slightly, Ryan looked down at his mom, "Oh come on. Where's the fun in them getting to know me if you go and tell them everything?"

"Oh shush, your tone has gotten you into much more trouble than you seem to remember. It's best they have some idea of what you're like before you inevitably say something stupid," she replied sternly.

"Now, now you two, let's not start this in front of our guests," said his father as he made his way to the other side of Ryan. Sighing defeatedly, Ryan looks at each of the four strangers in his living room.

As if on cue, Jean speaks up, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Jean Grey."

Raising his hand and offering a warm smile, "I'm Scott Summers, it's nice meeting you."

Ryan's attention was then drawn to the brunette waving her hand enthusiastically, "And I'm Kitty!"

Slightly taken aback by the cheer radiating from Kitty, Ryan smiled and turned to the final person. A woman with white streaks in the front of her auburn hair. Doing a quick once-over of her outfit, he offers a friendly smile.

Shaking her head quickly, she looks to the side, "I'm Rogue."

Laughing nervously, Kitty places a hand on Rogue's shoulder, "She's not really a people person."

Ryan chuckles as he replies, "I would say that we'd get along great, but that would kind of go against not being a people person." He turns to face the group as a whole, "Anything you guys need to know or did my parents give you my life story?"

The four teens looked at each other, silently asking that exact question. After a moment, Jean turned back to Ryan and spoke, "Nope. Your parents already told us everything we were going to ask."

With a shrug, Ryan turns to each of his parents and gives them both a hug.

"If you end up having second thoughts, all you have to do is call," began his mother.

"I know. All I have to do is call and you two will be in the car and on your way in 10 minutes," Ryan says with a chuckle.

Turning away from his parents, he grabs his bags and nods, signaling that it is time to leave. Following his lead, Rogue and the others exited the house. Stopping at the road, everyone turned to face the house. With a smile and a wave, Ryan said goodbye to his parents. Turning and stepping onto the sidewalk, he couldn't shake the feeling of this being goodbye. _This ain't the last time I'll see them. Is it?_ He thought. _No, of course, it won't be. It's just the first time I'll be so far away._ He continued to reassure himself as he absentmindedly followed his new acquaintances.

"Wait, don't you guys have like, a car or something?" He asked as he hurried to catch up to Kitty.

Scratching her head and smiling, she turns to the brunette, "Not exactly. We had to park a good bit away."

"Why? There was plenty of room on the road to park at my house," Ryan asked with a bewildered expression.

Glancing over her shoulder, Rogue spoke up, "Trust me, there wasn't enough room."

Confused, Ryan stayed quiet, not sure what to say. Continuing on their way, Ryan became even more bewildered as they left the city on foot. Sensing his curiosity, Kitty placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not far from here. You'll understand when we get there."

"Uh, if you say so." He then turned his attention to Rogue, whom he noticed taking glances back at him.

"Don't mind her, she can be a bit rough around the edges, but overall she can be really nice," Kitty said with a nervous laugh.

Nodding, he turned to face forward once more. Moments later, much to Ryan's confusion, the group began entering the woods. Opening his mouth to speak, he quickly reclosed it as they entered a clearing just large enough to house a jet. Baffled, he stopped in his tracks, unsure of what to say he stood at the edge of the clearing with his mouth agape.

Whilst Rogue passed the others and got on the jet, the others turned to see why Ryan had stopped. Scott then smiled, understanding his new colleague's confusion. Placing a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the jet with the other, Scott spoke.

"This is the X-jet. A heavily modified SR-71 Blackbird capable of vertical takeoff and way too many other things to list. See why we couldn't just park outside your house?" Scott asks with a large smile.

Mouth still agape, Ryan only manages a small nod. Giggling, Kitty walked to the opposite side of Scott, and puts her arm on Ryan's other shoulder and uses her free hand to shut his mouth.

"Careful or you'll catch flies."

Ryan can't help but laugh as he and the others make their way onto the X-jet.

Stepping aboard, he quickly finds a seat a few rows back from the front. Setting his luggage in the seats in the back, he sat in a seat near the middle as he examined the inside of the jet. He watched as Kitty hesitantly took a seat across from him as she eyed Rogue, who had sat closer to the back. Peeking back, he watched as she fidgeted with the cord of her earbuds. Looking towards the front, he saw Jean and Scott enter the cockpit. Turning back to Kitty, he gestures to Rogue.

"What's up with her?" He asked.

Looking towards Rogue, she responds, "She's just grumpy. She didn't really want to come along. And to make matters worse, her phone died so she can't listen to music."

Scratching his chin, Ryan looks to his stuff and stands up. Making his way back to his stuff, he opens a very telling case, revealing a guitar. Guitar in hand, he walks back to his seat, but on the way, he stops at Rogue.

"Phone dead?"

Looking up, she nods with a disinterested look.

Taking his phone, Ryan puts his passcode in and hands it to Rogue, "Here use mine. I don't need it right now."

Before Rogue could respond, he went back to his seat. Looking at his home screen, Rogue saw an updated version of the same photo she saw in his house. In the middle stood Ryan, guitar in hand. To his right was another brunette with his arm draped over Ryan's near shoulder. To his left, two blonde twins, both mirroring the other. Both had guitar's next to themselves and an arm draped over the other and doing peace signs. All shared two specific things, a massive smile. Rogue couldn't help but grin slightly as she brought up his full list of apps, looking for something to listen to music on before finding Spotify.

Doing a quick once-over of his saved music, she plugged her earbuds in and clicked on a song titled, "The Voiceless" by Fire From The Gods. Quickly satisfied with her choice, she sat the phone on her leg and leaned back into her seat, only to be disturbed by the phone vibrating. Picking it up, she realized the phone had locked and she didn't have the passcode. She watched as more and more notifications appeared, all from YouTube. Looking to Ryan, she wondered, _Why is he getting so many notifications from YouTube?_ As she was about to turn back to the phone, she noticed him pulling something out of his shirt, and turned back.

Ryan then pulled a necklace from inside his shirt and took it off, revealing several guitar picks dangling from it. Unclasping the back, he held his hand below the necklace to catch the picks as they slid off. Setting one to the side, he replaces the others on the silver necklace and puts it back on. Linking his fingers and popping his fingers, he clasps the guitar with the pick in his left hand.

"You're left-handed?" asked Kitty, who had silently been watching him from across the aisle.

"I'm ambidextrous, I just prefer playing with my left," he says as he glances up. He then grows extremely red and drags his hand down his face, stopping at his eyes and keeping them closed.

Kitty then realizes Ryan's mistake and bursts out into laughter. Confused, Rogue pauses the song and removes her earbuds. Standing up, she heads towards the front of the jet, taking a seat behind Kitty.

"What's going on up here?" she asked.

An audible groan could then be heard from Ryan as he still covered his face. Turning to Kitty, who was gasping for breath, she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh Rogue, you should have been here. I don't think I can do it justice," she says in between breaths.

"Phrasing is a bitch," Ryan says as he drags his hand the rest of the way down his face.

"Still kinda left in the dark here," spoke Rogue, now a little annoyed that she still had no idea what happened.

Running his fingers through his hair, Ryan looked up, "Kitty here, asked if I'm left-handed. I replied with, I'm ambidextrous, I just prefer playing with my left."

Rogue then looked at Ryan, mouth slightly open, baffled. She then began snickering, and leaned over, "Phrasing dude, phrasing!"

Groaning, Ryan gripped his guitar and began to play. Closing his eyes, Ryan soon drifted off into his own little world. Forgetting where he was, he began to sing.

 _We used to have it all_

 _It was us against the world, but now_

 _I've been staying on my own_

 _Spending all these nights alone hoping that you're coming home_

Rogue and Kitty looked at each other shocked. Neither could seem to formulate words as Ryan continued.

 _Cause you're always in my dreams_

 _It's like you would never leave_

 _Feels like an eternity, and I can't believe_

Ryan continued to play as if he had completely checked out mentally. Rogue, on the other hand, was beyond shocked at how easily the brunette's fingers glided across the strings, bringing out just the right sound.

 _I let you in, you pushed me out_

 _You left me on my own, you left me all alone_

 _I let you in, you tore me down_

 _You left me skin and bone, you left me all alone_

 _You left me all alone_

Ryan soon realized exactly what he was doing and immediately stopped. Wide-eyed, he stared at Kitty and Rogue, as his face grew red once more.

Trying to play it off, Ryan chuckles, "Whoops. Sorry about that, old habits die hard."

Kitty and Rogue then shared a look before both turning back to Ryan.

Kitty spoke first, "That was good."

"Good? That was awesome," said Rogue.

Speechless, Ryan just sat there, completely shocked at his colleagues' reactions. Then, a smile began to creep onto his face. Setting his guitar to the side, he runs his fingers through his hair and turns to face them.

"Thanks. I usually try to not just burst into song out of the blue but as I said, old habits die hard," he says scratching the back of his head.

"What do you mean? You're really good, why would you want to stop?" asked Kitty.

Smiling brightly, Ryan lets out a little chuckle, "I'm not stopping. Just gonna have to put less time towards it for the foreseeable future. You know, gotta get into the swing of things with a new school."

Kitty and Rogue both nodded, acknowledging the sense behind his statement. Kitty then looked at her phone, checking the time. Rogue on the other had remembered something.

Reaching into her pocket, Rogue withdraws Ryan's phone and tosses it to him, "You're getting a lot of notifications on YouTube."

Catching his phone and quickly puts his passcode in, he nods, "Yeah, I was expecting that. Figured my phone would blow up eventually."

Curious, Rogue crossed her arms, "Why?"

Shrugging, Ryan keeps his eyes on his phone. Curiosity getting the better of Rogue, she gets up, acting like she's heading back to her seat in the back, she then slips into the seat behind Ryan. Eyes still glued to his screen, Ryan doesn't acknowledge Rogue's seat switch, clearly entranced by whatever he was seeing. Peeking over the seat, Rogue tries to see what he's looking at. Much to her chagrin, all she can see is the comments section on a YouTube video. Reading a bunch of the comments only confuses her more as each said something about someone named Donnie. _Donnie? Where have I heard that name before?_

Ryan then laughs a little, startling Rogue and sending her back behind the seat. She then hears Ryan sigh sadly, and speak in a very hushed tone, "Donnie, signing out."

Sticking his phone back in his pocket, Ryan goes to put his pick back on his necklace, giving Rogue the chance to get back to her seat. Sitting back in her original seat, Rogue rested her hand on her chin, thinking. _Why is that name so familiar? Donnie, Donnie, Donnie. It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't think of why it's so familiar._ Sighing, Rogue gives up on the mystery on her mind for the time being.

Huffing in annoyance, Rogue decides to just wait till they get back home to try and remember. Taking her phone out, she goes to turn it on, only for it to immediately turn back off. Throwing her head back into her seat, she looks to Ryan. Maybe I shouldn't have given his phone back so quickly.

 **A/N: Hey guys! Long time, no update. Hopefully that'll change this time around as I am rewriting the story. The story wasn't going the way I wanted it to so I'm rewriting it! I can't promise quick updates, as I do have major plans in the near future, but I do promise each chapter will be a substantial addition, meaning at least 5 thousand words or more.**

 **I also need some opinions. The song lyrics in this chapter are actually a song I edited. I was wondering if it would be better to do that or if you guys would rather I make a companion story over on Wattpad using actual songs. If I did it like this, I would put a notice in the chapter on here to signify that there was a song on the companion book that goes there. The reason I ask this and don't just edit a bunch of songs is that, well, I suck at that. Like seriously. Plus it's against 's terms of service for the actual song lyrics to be used (if I read it right).**

 **Another thing. If anyone would like to make a cover for the story, that would be great. I'm terrible at drawing because there's always something I don't like the look of.**

 **One more thing, A BIG THANK YOU to my beta reader and basically editor, Lex Starfire. They helped me out tremendously when it came to making the sentences flow, as well as grammar mistakes I didn't catch initially.**


	2. Chapter 2

Arriving at the mansion, Ryan heads to the back of the jet to grab the rest of his luggage. Putting away his guitar and picking up his suitcase, he makes his way to the exit. When he gets there, he looks out and sees a few people standing there waiting for him. _Let's not keep them waiting._ Taking each step with confidence, Ryan quickly makes his way to the small group of people.

"And this is Ryan," spoke Jean as she gestures to him.

Smiling, Ryan takes note of everyone. _Eight people. Not much of a welcome wagon, especially since I already met three of them._ To his left, stood a guy with blue fur and a tail, wearing an unbuttoned tan shirt over a red v-neck and jeans. He then shifts his eyes to the next person. There stood another brunette, in a black and gray t-shirt and khaki pants. Next to him was a much younger boy with a massive smile on his face, clearly happy to see a new face. Looking at the boy's shoulder, he saw another blue hand. Following it up to the person it belonged to, he was met by an older man, also covered in blue fur. This man, however, looked much like a mix between a man and a gorilla, while the other seemed like a normal teenager with blue fur. _As normal as blue fur gets._ Before Ryan could get a glimpse of everyone, however, someone spoke up.

"Ah, Ryan. It's so good to see you," came a voice from behind the group.

As everyone parted, Ryan immediately recognized the man in the wheelchair as Professor X, a.k.a Charles Xavier. Genuinely happy to see the Professor, he sat his luggage on the ground and approached him with a smile. Extending his hand, Ryan speaks up.

"It's been a while hasn't it Professor? I appreciate you letting me come here."

Taking the young man's hand, Xavier returns his smile, "Think nothing of it. I built this school so people like us had a safe place to learn how to control our powers. That includes you."

"I appreciate that Professor. It hasn't been easy trying to control my powers on my own, but knowing your doors were open if I ever needed them really helped."

The Professor smiles and turns to Jean and Scott, "Will you two please show Ryan around? I'm afraid I have some business to attend to so I am unable to do so."

Jean quickly responds, "Sure thing Professor! Scott and I can show him around."

Scott glances at Jean tiredly, "Yeah. We can do that."

Picking up his luggage, Ryan shakes his head at Scott's misfortune and follows the two out the door.

Meanwhile, Rogue had already gotten back to her room, as she had no intention of hanging around longer than she needed. Flopping onto her bed, she lazily reached out for her phone charger. Plugging it up, she gave it a moment to start charging before turning it back on. _Now then, maybe I can figure out why that name is so familiar._ Opening Chrome on her phone, she was met by the Wikipedia article she had been reading earlier. Skimming over it, she easily sees the name that had been plaguing her mind on the way home. _Donnie._ Reading further, however, Rogue was sorely disappointed at the lack of information regarding him.

"There's no way they're the same person. I don't know why I'm even bothering," Rogue wondered aloud. Shaking her head, she sets her phone to the side. Walking over to where she had left her laptop to charge, she unplugs it and sits back down. _I wonder if Digital Rebellion has any music videos, all I've seen so far is audio only videos._ Typing in a quick search on YouTube, Rogue is pleasantly surprised to see a handful of music videos of various songs they had done. Clicking one, she leans back against the wall and watches as a guy in a leather jacket messes with an amp. Taking a closer look, she takes note of his hat, _black with a silver wolf on the front. Or back technically, he's wearing it backwards._ Her thoughts are soon interrupted as the man turns to face the camera with his face pixelated.

As the video continued on it began to jump cutting from the band to snippets of a story going along with the video. Rogue, enamored with the music, soon didn't even notice the bizarre pixelation over the band members faces. Instead, she subconsciously made faces for them each. As the video eventually came to a close, she glanced towards the door, only to be surprised by Kitty sitting inches away from her with a giant grin.

Bursting into laughter, Kitty doubled over, all the while saying, "It's about time you looked over. I thought you were never gonna look away from that screen!"

Annoyed beyond belief, Rogue clenches her fists, "Kitty! That wasn't funny!"

Waving off Rogue's anger, Kitty hops onto Rogue's bed and looks at the picture it was paused on as YouTube ticked down to the next video. "What's with the stuff on their faces?" She asked with a perplexed expression.

Looking back to the screen, Rogue shrugs, "No idea. According to their Wikipedia page, they prefer anonymity. Strange if you ask me, especially seeing as they're musicians."

Nodding slightly, Kitty catches a glance at the title of the video before it changes, "So this is that band you were listening to earlier?"

"Yep. Kind of weird though. The only thing I was able to dig up about the band is that the guy in the hat with the mic goes by Donnie."

"That is weird. You'd think that as a musician you'd want to get your name and face out there. Get some recognition."

Sighing, Rogue closes her laptop and sets it to the side, "Let's not worry about that for now. God knows I've probably been way too much thought into it myself," she says with a small laugh.

Shrugging, Kitty gets up and looks at the digital clock on the dresser across the room, "It's lunchtime, want to get something?"

Smirking, Rogue raises an eyebrow, "If you mean from the kitchen then maybe. I don't want to die today."

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm not that bad of a driver!" Kitty said in a much louder voice than before as she puffed out her cheeks.

Giggling, Rogue stands up, "No offense, but yes it is. You'd probably wrap a car around a tree on the way out the garage."

"Hmpf, well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm sure we can get Scott or Logan to take us to get something."

"Eh, maybe. Let's go ask."

Meanwhile, Ryan sluggishly carried his luggage as he followed Jean and Scott. _Why couldn't we have dropped by my room first so I could leave these?_ Glancing over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse at a few other students staring at him from down the hall. _I shouldn't be surprised._ _This is a school for mutants after all. They're probably wondering what my powers are, or why someone so old is only coming here now._

"And we're here," started Jean as she stopped and turned around, "This is your dorm. I hope you don't mind sleeping alone, everyone else already has a roommate or is too young to room with you."

Shrugging Ryan approaches the door, "I don't mind. I like my privacy after all."

Setting his guitar case down, he opens the door to see a fairly bland room. Against the wall sat his bed and an end table with a lamp. On the opposite side sat a dresser and a mirror, rounding out the mostly empty room. Stepping in, Ryan couldn't help but smile. Laying his stuff on the bed, he takes a few steps around the room. He then turns back to Jean, "I like it. I can really work with this." he says as he takes another look around the room.

"Hey Scott!" came a voice from down the hall. Looking towards the door, Ryan walks over, curious. Peeking his head out, he sees Kitty and Rogue walking towards Scott, Jean and himself. Leaning on the doorframe, he smiles in their direction.

"What's up guys?" asked Scott with a hint of annoyance.

"Oh nothing, just wondering if we could borrow your car to go get something to eat," says Kitty nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a big deal. Clearly, by the look on Scott and Jean's faces, it was much the opposite.

"Um, no. No way. Nope. Nada. Not happening."

"Really? Then why don't you guys take us yourself if you don't want us driving your car?" Asked Kitty.

Ryan tilts his head at Kitty, eyes squinted slightly with a small smile. _Clever girl. Ask one thing and when he says no, give him a better choice that still gets what you want. He'll think he's the one making the choice when in reality, you're giving him two evils to choose from with one being clearly worse than the other._

Groaning, Scott looks to Jean, "Wanna go for some pizza?"

Giggling, Jean smiles, "Sure," she then turns to Ryan, "Do you want to come too? We can show you around town while we're out, you know, keep the tour going."

Glancing at Scott, who just shrugged, Ryan looks back at his bed, "As long as I don't have to carry around that crap for this part of the tour, I'm down."

Kitty smiles, "Awesome! Maybe we could get Logan to bring some of the others in the X-van."

"Good idea! I'll go ask around. You guys go ahead and head to the garage," Said Jean as she went off to find Logan.

As Jean turns the corner, Scott sighs and slumps forward, "I just want to take a nap dammit."

Smiling, Ryan puts his hand on Scott's shoulder, "It'll be okay dude, I'm sure you'll perk up as soon as we hit the road."

Letting out a small laugh, Scott straightens up, "Yeah, maybe. Let's go ahead and get to the garage. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back."

Following Scott and the others, Ryan smiled. _It's the first day, and it already feels like I've been here for a lifetime. These guys really know how to make a guy feel welcome._ He's pulled from his thoughts as he notices Rogue slowing down to walk beside him.

"So, what do you think of the place so far?" she asked, glancing over at him.

Looking around, Ryan put his hands in his pockets, "I like it. It's not excessively fancy like you expect a mansion of this size to be. It kind of feels like someone just took a normal house and kept adding rooms to it until it could be called a mansion."

Rogue nods, "I know what you mean. I mean, sure it's insanely huge, but it's still cozy in its own way. So much so that you can forget just how big it really is."

Ryan nods as well and rolls his shoulders, trying to work out the aches of carrying his luggage all over the place. Looking to Rogue, he opens his mouth to speak. However, his train of thought goes out the window as they pass a window and he watches as the light glistens off her. Seeing this he can't help but stare as she brushes a few strands of hair to the side. _She's actually kind of pretty._ Shaking his head, Ryan faces the front as he racks his brain for what he was planning on saying. After a few seconds, it hits him.

"So, you already know so much about me, tell me about yourself."

Glancing at Ryan, she raises an eyebrow, "What do you want to know? I think you already know we like pretty much the same music. Or at least that's going off your Spotify."

Scratching his neck, Ryan turns his gaze to the ceiling as they pass under a chandelier, "I don't know. Maybe what your powers are, I guess," he says with a shrug. To his surprise though, Scott glances over his shoulder, a much more serious expression on his face than earlier.

"We forgot to tell you during the tour, but it's kind of an unwritten rule around here to not just ask what someone's powers are. Not everyone here is as comfortable with their powers and just want to learn how to suppress them so they can lead normal lives. That's why you don't see everyone running up and down the halls on fire, or flying, or whatever it is they do. I should have told you earlier, so it's kind of my fault you didn't know, but I'm telling you now."

Taken aback by the sudden shift in Scott's demeanor, Ryan just nods, unsure of what to say. He's then surprised as he feels a hand on his shoulder. Turning towards it, he sees the gloved hand of Rogue as she looks him in the eyes.

"It's fine. I don't mind telling him my powers. Besides, he'd have to find out eventually," she says with a smile. She then gestures to her glove, "Why do you think I wear gloves?" she asks.

Ryan pauses, waiting for an answer. When it's clear she intends for him to actually take a guess, he looks her up and down. "I assume something happens if your skin touches someone else's skin."

Rogue nods, "Exactly. If I were to take my glove off and, I don't know touch your cheek, I would begin to absorb not only YOUR powers but your memories. And if I keep it up for long enough, I'll even absorb part of your personality. All before you turn into a husk of who you once were."

Ryan simply stares at Rogue, eyes wide, with his mouth slightly agape as he tries to process the information she had just told him. _Damn, I thought my powers had some bad downsides. I can't imagine what that must be like._ Rogue turns her gaze to the ground, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," he says quickly.

Rogue looks back up with a small smile, "Nah, it's fine. I've gotten over it. I just can't help but think about all the things I can't do just because of these darn powers," she says as she stares at her gloved hands. Sighing, she raises her head again, a smile present on her face, "But, I can't let that get me down. Not anymore. I've lived my entire life like this, and I've gotten this far, so it doesn't bother me anymore."

Clearly done with the topic, Rogue faces forward again. Feeling a bit guilty for bringing up such a thing, Ryan stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets and follows silently. Soon enough the group stopped as they reached the garage.

"I call shotgun!" yells Kitty as she goes to hop into the car.

"Oh no you don't," says Scott as he grabs the back of her shirt. "That's Jean's seat."

Rolling their eyes simultaneously, Ryan and Rogue get in the back. Ryan being behind Scott's seat and Rogue in the middle, knowing full well that Kitty would want to be on the outside seat. Putting his seatbelt on, Ryan props his head up on the side of the car as they awaited Jean's arrival.

Putting her seatbelt on as well, Rogue glances at Ryan knowingly. _He's obviously upset, he refuses to look at anyone._ Nudging him with her elbow, she gets him to look over his shoulder at her. She pauses at the look in his eyes and immediately feels her stomach tie itself into a knot. _He feels bad about asking about my powers. I didn't mean to make him feel bad at all, I just told him the truth._

"Ryan," she says softly, "It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong, so cheer up dude."

Seeing little change in his demeanor, Rogue sighs. Folding her arms, she presses herself into her portion of the back seat. She looks to Kitty, who finally accepts defeat and gets in the remaining space in the back seat. Opening her mouth, she goes on to say something to Kitty when she hears Ryan sigh.

"I guess you're right," he says as he hangs his arm over the side of the car. Brushing a few strands of hair out of his face and tucking them under his hat, he smiles lightly.

As she sees this, Rogue quickly averts her eyes. Looking towards the door, she watches as Jean, Logan and a few others enter the garage. She giggles as Logan grumbles to himself as he gets in the X-van. Watching the others get into the van, she notes seeing Kurt, Evan, and Jamie, just to name a few.

Opening the door, Jean gets into the car, "Okay, we ready?" she asks.

Glancing over his shoulder and seeing everyone had their seatbelts on, Scott cranks up the car, "Yep. Let's get this over with."

Pulling out of the garage and eventually making it out onto the road, Ryan smiled widely. "I love being out on the open road," he says as a strong gust of wind hits them, lifting his hat off his head. In a panic, he reaches back and grabs the bill of it. However, when he starts to pull it back into the car, he feels resistance. Turning, he sees Rogue had also tried to save the hat from being lost along the road. Meeting her eyes, he immediately feels his face warm up, despite the cool breeze now flowing through his hair. As he looks away he catches a glimpse of Rogue as she also realizes what had happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Rogue's pale complexion turn a rosy red as she turns completely away from him.

Tightening his hat to avoid losing it to the wind, Ryan puts it back on. Looking off to the left, he watches as their surroundings become increasingly more populated. Passing a school, he reads the sign to himself, "Bayville High School, Home of the Hawks."

"That's where you'll be going to school," said Scott, as he pulls up to a stoplight. "As far as schools go, it's not bad. But I'm not saying it's good by any means."

"Scott!" fusses Jean as she elbows him. "Don't get that into his head, let him make his own opinion when the school year rolls around in a few months." She then turns to Ryan, "Speaking of school, what was your old one like?"

Scratching his chin, Ryan looks at the sky in thought. "It wasn't too bad I guess. Maybe a bit crowded but that's to be expected in such a big city. As far as students go, I wasn't exactly a big fan of my fellow students."

"What about your teachers? I assume they weren't terrible since you didn't group them and the students together and say 'everyone there sucked' sort of category," says Scott, earning a chuckle from Ryan.

"Nah, the teachers were nice. Frustrating, but nice. They knew how to handle teenagers, so that was a plus."

"What do you mean," asked Kitty.

"They knew when to push us and when not to. It was less 'do this math problem until you see the formula when you close your eyelids' and more 'let's find an easy way for you to remember how to do this in a handful of tries'."

Scott laughs, "Well I can't tell if you're in luck, or screwed. We have a mix of both at Bayville."

Nodding, Ryan turns his attention to the side of the road. Taking note of the generic stores lining the road, he sighs. _You'd think a place like this would have some more locally run shops, places you can't find anywhere else. But all I see are the same shit as back home._ He pauses for a moment. _Home_. Scratching the back of his neck, he angles his neck to see around Scott's seat. _This is home now. At least for a while._

"We're here," says Jean as she checks her phone.

Smiling, Ryan immediately unbuckles his seatbelt as Scott turns the car off. Hopping out the car, he bends backward at close to a 90-degree angle, letting loose a series of pops and cracks. Glancing over, Rogue cringes and turns away.

"How can you do that without breaking your back?" she asks as she gets out of the car on Kitty's side.

Confused, Ryan arches an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Stretch?"

Rogue lets out a small chuckle as Ryan turns to face her fully, "That wasn't stretching. That looked more like you were about to do some sort of demented crab walk."

In realization, Ryan nods, "Oh I know what you're talking about. I don't know, I guess I'm just really limber." Shrugging, Ryan laces his fingers behind his head and leans on his back foot.

Kitty laughs, "I gotta agree with Rogue, it is a bit weird to be able to bend THAT far back and be fine. You sure you have a spine."

Ryan just laughs and looks over to where the X-van had parked. He watches as a shorter, bulky man in jeans and a leather jacket. _Nice jacket, but not exactly my style, Too bikey._ Tilting his head, he squints as he watches as the man takes count of everyone that decided to come along. _Is he supposed to be like a chaperone or something?_ Ryan chuckles internally at the proposition.

"Ryan, you coming?" asked Rogue from the door.

Taken off guard, he quickly nods and walks over. Looking up, he sees a sign pointing at the somewhat bland restaurant. _'Mario and Luigi's Pizza Palace'? Really?_ Shaking his head, he enters. Looking around, he notices a sort of buffet with all sorts of pizzas to one side. Turning his gaze to the sign, he soon realizes the nature of the place. _It's a buffet. With just pizza. This is awesome!_ Smiling, he then waits his turn in line.

Approaching the counter, the cashier smiles brightly, "Welcome to Mario and Luigi's Pizza Palace! I take it you're over 12," she says with a giggle. Noticing the confused look on his face, a slight red hue becomes apparent on her cheeks. "Oh, you must be new in town. I'm sorry," she says as she gestures to a board to the side saying '12 and under - 4.99; 13 and older - 6.99'.

Nodding, Ryan laughs, "Yeah, I just got here so I guess that does explain a bit."

Perking up, the woman behind the counter smiles, "Well, welcome to Bayville! Seeing as it's your first time here, your drink is on the house," she says as she grabs a large cup.

"Thank you," he says taking the cup. Reading the digital display on the register, he takes out his wallet and pays. Giving a smile and a nod, he then grabs a plate and goes to the buffet. Weighing his options, he quickly decides to try one he hadn't had before. _Buffalo Chicken? Interesting. Hmm, what about Alfredo? Argh, I've never had to make such a decision before!_

Pausing, Ryan mentally slaps himself and gets a slice of each and looks around for a seat. _Looks like Scott and Jean want to eat by themselves, so that's a no-go. Looks like Kitty is setting up one giant table for everyone, but I'd rather be invited to join than to just show up so that ain't happening at the moment. Wait, where's Rogue?_ Scanning the room, he sees Rogue in a booth to the side, sipping on her drink and looking at her phone. _Eh, she doesn't look like she wants to be bothered._ Making his way across the room, Ryan puts his plate on a table in the corner and goes to get his drink.

Upon returning, he takes his phone out as well as his earbuds. _54 Percent. That should do fine._ Putting his earbuds in, he goes to YouTube and puts on the first video in his recommended list. Absentmindedly, takes his time eating, primarily focusing on watching the video on his phone. Peeking away from his phone as he finishes his pizza, he notices a few of the people that had come along in the X-van were staring at him.

Sighing, with the plate in hand, Ryan stands up and heads back to the buffet. On the way, he peers over at his observers, curious of what he should do. _Ignore them, or initiate a conversation... So many options,_ he thinks as he gets another plate of pizza. On his way back to his seat as he passes his curious new housemates, he hears one of them speak up.

"So, what do you do new guy?"

Turning around, Ryan sees a boy in his early teens. He sat with a handful of older kids, whom all seemed to be asking the same question, only with the looks on their faces. _So much for no asking people about their powers._ Setting his plate on a nearby table, he looks around the restaurant, seeing no signs of anyone not from the mansion. Sighing, he then takes a deep breath.

Taking his sigh as a sign of annoyance, the teens all turned back to their pizza. However, they were then shocked to see their plates missing. Scouring the immediate area for what had happened to each of their plates, they were shocked to see each plate sitting on the table next to Ryan, a few tables away.

Picking up his plate, Ryan does his best to mask his heavy breathing as he makes his way back to his seat. As he sits down, he closes his eyes to focus on his breathing. _Easy, breath in your nose and out your mouth._ Eventually calming down, he raises his head and notices the boy from a moment ago.

"You okay?" he asks with a look of concern on his face.

Nodding, Ryan takes a sip of his drink and extends his hand. _Ugh, the ice is already melting._

Taking the outstretched hand, the boy smiles widely, "My name's Jamie! And yours?"

With a slightly confused look, Ryan returns the smile, "Ryan. Nice to meet you," he says, still eyeing the boy. _Did I just see double?_

Recognizing the look on Ryan's face, Jamie sheepishly scratches the back of his head, "Yeah, that's my power. I'm guessing you just saw two of me, right?"

Nodding slowly, Ryan leans back in his seat as he takes another sip of his watered down soda.

Sitting down in the opposite seat of Ryan, momentarily creating another copy of himself before reabsorbing it instantly. "That's my power. Whenever I touch something, I make a copy of myself. As you can see, I can't exactly control when it does and doesn't happen, at least not yet," he says as he looks off to the side.

Watching Jamie, Ryan smiles, happy to see that controlling their powers doesn't come naturally and that he isn't the only one. Just as he thinks this, he feels his hand start to shake, dropping his cup on the table. Quickly gripping his wrist and holding it out of view, he clenches his eyes tightly. _Focus. Stay calm, now is not the time. I said focus damn it!_

Finally getting himself under control, Ryan realizes the only sound he hears is his cup steadying itself as it comes to a stop right side up on the table. Looking around, he sees all eyes on him. Now nervous about everyone's reaction, he looks at the wall of the booth he sat in. _Dammit._

"Hey, kid. It's okay. No one here was able to control their abilities out of the box. Hell most of them were able to hold out as long as you did before coming here," said an older man as he stood next to Ryan's table.

Turning his attention to the man, Ryan took note of his features. Dark hair, visible stubble, clearly from a lack of shaving. Immediately noticing the man's short height, barely taller than Jamie, he decided against making a short joke. Not the time. Giving the man a full once over, he realized the man next to him was the same one that had driven the X-van.

Taking a deep breath, and another quick glance at his arm, Ryan nods. "Thanks. Nice to hear that. Now if only I could catch up to them," he says with a small chuckle.

The man places a hand on Ryan's shoulder, "Eventually. The name's Logan by the way."

"I'm Ryan, it's a pleasure."

Logan smirks, "You say that now, but I'm gonna be one of your trainers, whether you join us or not."

Tilting his head sideways, Ryan watches Logan with a puzzled look, "Join you? I mean, ain't that why I came out here? To learn to control my powers?"

A look of realization comes over Logan's face, "Ah, so Charles didn't tell you yet."

"Tell me what?"

Brushing off the question, Logan starts to walk away, "Take it up with him when we get back. For now, enjoy yourself."

Ryan starts to get up and follow the man, however, out of the corner of his eye he sees that most of the eyes in the pizza joint were on him. Relaxing back into his seat, he takes a sip of his completely watered down soda. Disgusted at the taste, he gets up and heads to get another. On his way, he catches a glimpse of Rogue, sitting at her own booth a few tables away from everyone else. Pausing for a moment as he fixes himself another drink, he ponders why she would sit alone. _She and Kitty seemed like really good friends, yet they're not sitting together. Why?_

Done fixing his drink, Ryan looks around, seeing no one is paying him much attention, he walks to Rogue's corner. With her back to him, Rogue doesn't seem to notice Ryan approach, or she just didn't acknowledge him. As he got closer, he peers over her shoulder to see what she's doing. _Is that…? Oh god._ To Ryan's surprise, she was watching an all too familiar video. His eyes were immediately drawn to a man with pixelation over his face. _Thank god._ Walking past her and stopping by the seat across from her, he leans down to steal her attention from her phone.

Removing an earbud, Rogue raises her eyebrow inquisitively.

Clearing his throat, Ryan meets her gaze and give a small smile, "Mind if I sit here?"

Rogue shrugs and puts her phone and earbuds away and gives all her attention to the young man across from her. "What's up?" she asks, curious of the nature of his sudden arrival.

"Nothing, just figured you may want some company. You?" replies Ryan as he sips his drink, maintaining eye contact.

Rogue merely shrugs to his inquiry and leans back in her seat. Looking around, her eyes fall on where he had previously sat, "He drive you off with a bombardment of questions?" she asks with a grin.

Looking back at Jamie, Ryan shakes his head, "Nah, not really. Just asked about my powers," his trails off, his face turns sour, "I showed them and then my arm started acting up."

Rogue stared at the man across the table from her. To put it simply, she sympathized with him. She knew what it was like to not be able to control her powers properly. Reaching out and placing her gloved hand on his wrist, she met his eyes as he looked up at her. "That's not something to be so worried about. Especially right now. You just arrived here, you're not gonna learn to control yourself in days, weeks or even months. It's going to take a while, and even that may be wishful thinking. A lot of us have spent a good portion training to control ourselves, each with varying degrees of results."

Listening to Rogue, Ryan smiles lightly, "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Smiling in return, Rogue leans back in her seat, "Now, enough of this crap. There's a small arcade in the back, you got some change?"

Intrigued, Ryan reaches into his pocket, only to find himself coinless. Taking out his wallet, he opens it, "I assume they have a machine to exchange bills for coins, right?"

Rogue nods, verifying his assumption, "Yes, they do. Now let's go!" she says as she grabs his hand and pulls him out of his seat.

Gesturing towards a doorway off to the side, the goth teen leads him to a small room with a handful of arcade machines in it. Scanning each, he recognizes a few, them being pinball, a claw machine and a couple of generic racing games. After exchanging a dollar for some quarters, Ryan looks to the claw machine.

"Ah, we meet again," he says as he walks towards the machine dramatically.

 _What in the-_ Rogue begins to think as Ryan puts in a quarter and intently examines the prizes in the machine. The brunette grins as he eyes a small, fluffy stuffed dog in the corner.

"I see you have a captive! I shall free him from his imprisonment at once!"

Trying to decide whether to laugh, or run for help, Rogue stands to the side of the machine and occasionally look to Ryan. "You okay?"

Turning to Rogue, he raises an eyebrow, "Uhm, yeah?" he says, confused at the odd question. He then facepalms and looks back at Rogue knowingly, "Yeah, I am. I've just always had this sort of rivalry with claw machines. I always feel like I need to win something from everyone I try. And the whole shtick about it having a captive, I'm just having a bit of fun," he then turns his attention to the stuffed pup, "Want a stuffed dog?" he asks, still focused on the prize.

Giggling at Ryan's quick switch from down in the dumps to goofball, she nods, "Sure why not."

Adopting a look of determination, Ryan grins and goes to work on the claw machine. _Oh lord, this may take a while._

After a few tries, Rogue began to eye Ryan worriedly. _Dear god, he's gonna spend all his money on this thing._ Thankfully, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jean walking into the tiny arcade. Glancing at Ryan, whom still wore a face of deep determination, she turns to Rogue.

"You guys ready?"

Rogue turns her attention to Ryan and gestures to him, "I am, but I think he's a bit obsessed with getting a stuffed dog out of that machine."

Nodding in acknowledgment, Jean steps beside Ryan, "What dog?"

Ryan then points to a small, fluffy brown dog with floppy ears, laying sideways in the corner of the machine. Putting in another quarter, Ryan moves the claw to the corner and as he lowers it to grab the stuffed animal, Jean places her hand on her forehead and makes it seem like the claw had grabbed it by the arm.

With a triumphant smile plastered across his face, Ryan quickly grabs the prize from where the claw had disposed of it and immediately looks to Rogue. "Here you go," he says as he extends his hand with the animal in his hand.

Pretending she hadn't seen Jean's actions, Rogue feigns surprise at the feat the boy had accomplished. Taking the dog and hugging it, she smiles at Ryan, "Thanks."

Suddenly getting flustered, Ryan scratches the back of his head, "Oh it's nothing."

Jean smirks at the brunette, "We ready to head back to the mansion?"

Nodding in unison, Rogue and Ryan follow Jean out and back to the car. Hopping into their respective seats, Kitty notices the stuffed animal in Rogue's arms. As she begins to ask where she got it, she notices the grin on Ryan's face when he glances at it. Turning to the look away, Kitty smiles, happy to see her best friend had made a friend.

The ride back to the mansion was quiet other than a few side comments about one thing or another. Once they arrived back, however, Ryan looked to see Logan staring at him. Getting out of the car, Ryan approaches the older man and as he is about to speak, Logan turns and gestures for him to follow. Curious, he follows closely behind him.

"So you gonna clue me in on the whole joining thing?" Ryan asks as he walks behind Logan.

"Nope. But, I'm taking you to see Charles so he can."

Accepting the answer, the two continue to walk in silence. Soon after, they enter a small office with bookcases lining a few of the walls and a fireplace opposite the desk. Sitting in a position mirroring the lone chair facing the fireplace, sat Professor Charles. Walking towards the paraplegic, Ryan eventually leans on the side of the chair.

Tilting his head and looking at the young man sideways, "Ah, I see Logan wishes to go ahead and clue you in on the institute's other purpose."

Ryan merely nods and leans back on the side of the high backed chair.

Taking the chance to speak, Xavier turns his gaze back to the fireplace. "You see Ryan, the primary function of this institute is to help those like us, people who possess the x-gene. The secondary function, however, is much more complicated, if you can believe that," he says with a light chuckle. "Our second function is to train those same people to use their abilities to help others. You may have already heard of superpowered beings doing less than legal things with their powers, while those like them try to stop them. That's where we come in. We're here to train the next generation of mutants to defend the defenseless, the normal people of society," he says just before turning and facing Ryan. "Many of the young men and women you met today, are apart of this. Jean, Scott, Kitty, Rogue, even Jaime. They're all X-men. Now, what I wish to know, will you join them?"

Speechless, Ryan looks down before turning his gaze to the fireplace. After taking a moment to think it over, he takes a deep breath and looks towards Xavier.

Meanwhile, Rogue quietly walks the halls of the mansion, her new stuffed animal in hand and a small smile stretched across her face. Slowing her steps and eventually coming to a stop, she gazes out a nearby window. _Is it just me, or has the mansion got a lot more cozy?_ Lost in her thoughts, Rogue doesn't notice Kurt standing next to her, eyeing her curiously. With a snap of his fingers, Rogue jumps, almost falling over before she turns angrily to the fuzzy blue dude.

"Kurt! What the heck dude?!" she yells.

Clearly caught off guard, Kurt recoils at the volume of Rogue's voice. Recovering, he keeps his distance, "I was just wondering if you're okay. You were acting a little weird, well, weird for you at least."

Obviously still mad, Rogue narrows her eyes at him, "What's that supposed to mean furball?"

Shaking his hands feverishly, Kurt takes a step back, "Nothing! Just, you're not acting your usual gloomy self. You were actually standing in the sunlight, and smiling at the same time! I've never seen you do that before!"

Rogue's eyes go wide and her angry expression drops. She then looks at the window they were standing near and absentmindedly clutches the stuffed dog in her hand ever so slightly tighter. Noticing the change Kurt's attention is drawn to the poor stuffed animal in her seemingly iron grip.

"You get that from the claw machine back at Mario's?" he asks as he goes to touch it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rogue sees Kurt reaching towards her and instinctively pulls back. Realizing what she did, Rogue blushes looks away and puts her arms behind her back, subsequently hiding her gift from view. "Uh, yeah. The new guy Ryan won it and gave it to me."

Upon hearing this, Kurt grins from ear to ear and starts bouncing on his toes, "Someone's got a crush on the new guy!"

Shocked at Kurt's statement, her face takes on an even darker shade of red, "No I don't! Why would you say that he just got here!"

Still grinning, Kurt rubs his chin, "It's written all over your face Rogue, you can't hide it from the fuzzy blue dude."

Growing more and more frustrated, Rogue throws the stuffed animal at Kurt, "If I did, then why would I throw this at you?! I don't want it see! I don't like him you blue fool!" she yells as she turns as starts to stomp off towards her room.

Taken aback by Rogue yelling at him, Kurt just stands there for a second. Regaining his wits about him, he leans over and picks up the stuffed dog. Looking it over, he smiles lightly as he notices the matted down fur where Rogue held it. He then gets drawn out of his thoughts when he hears a door down the hall slam. Looking back and forth between the dog and the door, Kurt gets an idea.

Slamming her door shut, Rogue marches over to the window and shuts the blinds, enveloping the room mostly in darkness. Throwing herself onto her bed, she groans into her pillow. _Why does Kurt have to be such a nosy fool? Just let a girl enjoy her day in peace! And to say something like that, to think that I have a crush on the new guy already, the nerve of him!_ She pauses as realization sets in about what she had just done. _Dammit! I actually kinda liked that dog. It was the first gift someone has given me in a while, and dare I say, I liked it._

Rogue's thoughts are then interrupted by a knock at the door and the faint smell of sulfur. Puzzled, she raises up, only to see the stuffed dog sitting next to her. Looking around the room in shock, she sees that she is still alone and that Kurt had poofed into her room, dropped the dog and left. Looking back at the fluff stuffed animal, Rogue finds herself smiling and grabs it. Holding it next to her, she lays back down, this time facing the ceiling. _Saves me the trouble of finding a reason to get it back._

Suddenly, the door to the room flies open and standing there is Kitty. She immediately looks at Rogue. "Quick, Ryan is talking to the Professor! He may be officially joining us," she blurts out, ignoring the way Rogue held her gift.

Rogue quickly leaps from her bed and rushes down the halls with Kitty. Eventually, the two make it to the hallway outside the Professor's office, only to see several other students standing around waiting to see Ryan's answer. Scanning the crowd, Rogue easily saw Scott, Jean, Jaime, Evan, Kurt, Bobby, and a handful of others lingering a few feet from the door.

As the door begins to open, the teens hear Ryan speak, "Yes Professor, I'm sure."

Smiles spread across the faces of the mass of people as the door fully opens and Ryan steps out. The group of teens watch as the man exits the office, awaiting his decision. As he turns however, they see a look of shock spread across his face. Acknowledging the awkwardness of the situation, Jean steps up and speaks.

"So, are you joining us?" she asks as if the question had already been answered.

Ryan's face drops as he hears the question. As he scans the small crowd of other students, all he can think is, _Fuck_. Glancing to the side, he sees Rogue and Kitty both waiting with baited breath. _This is not going to go well._ Turning his attention to the ground, he takes a deep breath and steadies himself. Raising his head and looking over the group of students as a whole, he replies.

"No."

 **A/N - Thank you for reading the second chapter! I apologize for the amount of time between chapters, I got braces and a lot of stuff is going on so I wasn't able to get around to writing all that much. BUT, from now on, I'm going to try to atleast write some each day, just so some progress is being made and hopefully if it takes a while to get the chapter out, the length and amount of stuff going on in it makes up for it. Thanks again, and don't forget to review! I can't fix your issues with the stories if I don't know about them.**


	3. Chapter 3

No, A two letter word that was almost guaranteed to be seen and even heard every day. It was such a simple word with a simple meaning. Yet, from the look on the students' faces standing in the hallway, it was as if the brunette had spoken a completely different language.

As the words slowly sank in, the teen's faces went from looks of shock to mixes of confusion and disappointment. Scott then took a step forward, now standing side by side with Jean. His face looked more calm than others, however, Ryan felt that may soon change.

"Umm, what did you say? I don't think I heard you right," he said as he scratched his neck.

Suddenly, a lump seemed to appear in Ryan's throat. Swallowing it and breathing deeply, hardening his gaze, he stares into Scott's glasses. "I said, no. I'm not joining the X-men."

Scott didn't move. His face only slightly shifted as the words sunk into his head. Slowly he began to nod, "And you're sure of this?"

Ryan pauses. He examines the saddened looks on each of the other students' faces. The sight hit him deep, but he couldn't let it get to him. _I have to stick to my decision. Even if it's not what they want to hear, I just can't afford to join them._ "Yes, I'm sure."

Jean adopts a look of dejection as she listens, "I guess it can't be helped. Not everyone is cut out for the stuff we do. Besides, if every mutant that came here, joined the X-men, well we'd be way too crowded," she says as she blatantly forces out a chuckle.

Rogue sighs, unsure how to feel about his decision. On one hand, she wanted him on the team given, how easily they got along. On the other hand, that may put him in more danger than he could handle and he could get hurt. _Well, it's not like he's leaving or something. He's just not going to be training to the extent we are. He'll still be here, he just won't be trying to learn to use his powers like us, he'll be learning to suppress them._ As she thought, her downcast expression faded and was replaced by her usual neutral one.

Glancing to the other students, she watched as they each slowly wandered off one by one. Some looked disappointed, others looked annoyed for whatever reason. Jaime, who stood off to the side, still held a look of shock, unsure of how to react. _Poor kid. He must have been so sure Ryan would join up. Heh, he must really like the guy._ A small smile grew on Rogue's face. _All the more reason for him to not join. God forbid something happens to a kid's best friend when they're on a mission. How would he react if his best friend didn't come back? We aren't exactly doing ballet, we're fighting highly dangerous criminals._

Seeing the majority of students had left, leaving Kitty, Jean, Scott, Jaime, Ryan, Kurt and herself, Rogue walks up to the man of the hour. Placing a gloved hand on his shoulder, she offers him a small smile. "That's fine. It's your choice, not ours. We each made our own choice, so it's only right that you make your own."

Kurt then appears on his opposite side, smiling largely, "Yeah, and like Jean said, not everyone is cut out for what we do! Just helping people anonymously will only get us so far when it comes to having mutants accepted into society. Someone has to be the one to fight for us on the big stage."

"Big stage? What do you mean?" asked Ryan.

"Oh you know, the courtrooms and stuff. We need someone in the government to have our backs," Kurt says as he lightly hits Ryan's shoulder.

"Uhm, about that," Ryan begins. Scratching the back of his neck, he looks away, "Once I learned how to control my powers, depending on whenever that is, I was planning on heading back to Iowa and either continuing my education or just joining back up with my band."

Silence envelops the group for a moment, before being broken by Kitty. "Even better! Politics are boring if you want someone's attention, entertainment is the way to go, especially music. I mean, if people already have a positive opinion of you, then they're more likely to listen to you when you have something to say. And if they don't have an opinion on that something, they're likely to take on your views as their own."

The group looked at Kitty, baffled. The usually ditsy brunette, just made it sound like she was some sort of expert in psychology. Jean Raised her eyebrow at Kitty.

"Where'd you learn that?"

Perking up, Kitty turns her attention to Jean, smile still ever present on her face. "I use to borrow Rogue's psychology textbook to hide my phone last year in study hall. Then one day the teacher found out and took up my phone. And instead of doing work, I just started reading her textbook!"

"Yeah, even took it once so I had to come up with a reason as to why I didn't have it one day," grumble Rogue, obviously annoyed at the memory.

Laughing nervously, Kitty scoots away from Rogue, "Sorry about that again."

The few students left all smiled as the tension from earlier faded away. And as silence soon fell, they each began to realize that the situation could, in fact, be much worse. Taking out his phone, Ryan checked the time. _1 o'clock. I should go ahead and go unpack._ Putting his phone away, he looks up, with a small smile still on his face.

"Well, since we've already eaten lunch and while I have the chance, I think I'll go ahead and go unpack."

Scott nods in acknowledgment, "Sure thing, man." Pausing, Scott takes a moment to think before opening his mouth once more, "And since I'm not sure if I've already told you but, welcome."

Nodding, Ryan turns to head back to his room, "Thanks man," As he begins to head down the hallway, he glances over his shoulder, seeing Rouge looking at him out of the corner of his eye with a smile. Returning the gesture, he makes his way down the hall and eventually gets back to his room.

As Ryan walks away, Rogue, can't help but watch as he leaves. _I swear, there's something about him that just screams "I've seen you before" but I just can't put my finger on it._ Finally turning back to her friends, she notices them all smirking at her.

"What?" she asks with a hint of annoyance.

"Oh nothing," replies Jean as she folds her arms, "Nothing at all."

Narrowing her eyes, Rogue quickly shifts her attention between them all. Settling on Kitty, whos smirk resembled more of a giddy grin, she hardened her stare. "Oh really, does that go for everyone then?"

Rocking back and forth from her toes to the balls of her feet Kitty glances down the hallway. Seeing Ryan had disappeared around the corner already and was certainly out of earshot by now, she starts to jump up and down in sheer happiness. "Rogue's got a crush!"

Baffled by Kitty's outburst, Rogue takes a moment to comprehend her words. Realizing what she had said, her face soon takes on a pinkish red hue. "No, I don't! Why does everyone think that!?"

"Then why'd you stare at him for so long as he walked away, huh?" asked Jean in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.

Pausing, Rogue calms down. Looking at the floor she begins to wrack her brain for a suitable answer before settling on the truth. "I don't know. He just looks so familiar. I don't know where I've seen him, but I swear I have. That's honestly the only reason I have for it right now."

"So you don't like the new guy?" asked Kurt, somewhat shocked.

Shaking her head, Rogue keeps her eyes trained on the floor. "No, at least I don't think I do. He just got here and I just met him, so it may be too early to tell." Finally looking up and giving her attention to her colleagues, she smiles faintly. "Don't get me wrong, so far he's been a nice guy, but that's from what? A few hours of knowing him? So to answer your question, no I do not have a crush on the new guy. We're just friends if even that."

Silence soon fell upon the hallway as each of the students exchanged glances. From the few looks she caught, Rogue knew they were embarrassed by their actions. Looking up, she cast a soft glare at her friends. _Shouldn't have assumed so quickly. But, then again, they may end up being right. He did JUST get here today._ Softening her gaze, Rogue turns her back to the others and starts walking off.

"Rogue, we're sorry," Kitty blurts out immediately.

Without turning around, Rogue responds, "I know, and I accept your apology. Maybe you'll learn to not assume things so quickly." Shocked at the change in he voice, the others let her leave without another word. Unbeknownst to them, however, as soon as she turned the corner, a massive grin makes itself visible on her face. _That felt so good to do! Finally, I get to be in the moral right._ Pausing for a moment, she erases any evidence of her previous glee and makes her way to her and Kitty's shared room.

As she entered the room, her attention is instantaneously caught by the small stuffed dog laying on its side on her bed. Grinning, she dives onto her bed and opens her laptop up. Seeing the first page to pop up, she remembers what she had been doing prior to going to lunch. _That's right, I was looking into that Donnie guy from Digital Rebellion. Let's see what I can find._ Typing away at the keys, she quickly finds a set of posts on a forum for the sole purpose of discerning the young man's identity.

And there she sat, spending the better part of an hour skimming through post after post. _Dear god, I thought I could over analyze things. These people take it to a whole new level!_ Shockingly, her thought rang true as she came across post after post of people analyzing singular frames where the blur meant for a band member's face didn't completely cover said face. Or people taking note of the rare few things that happened to be in the background of a video.

"Hey, Rogue. Whatcha doing?" asked Kitty abruptly.

Falling over in surprise, Rogue screams at the sudden voice. Recovering fairly quickly, she glares at Kitty, "Do you not knock?"

Pausing, Kitty looks insulted as she narrows her eyes slightly, "This is my room too you know."

Rogue merely shakes her head as she turns her attention to the post she had been reading, "Anyway, what you say?"

Trying to not feel even more insulted, Kitty sits next to her goth roommate, "I said, and I quote, 'whatcha doin'?"

Rogue stops and looks at Kitty sideways before inevitably turning back to her screen. "It's a long story."

Checking her invisible watch, Kitty smiles, "We have time, tell me."

Rolling her eyes, Rogue turns her laptop so Kitty could see it better. "If you really want to know, I trying to figure out who this guy is," she says as she points to a freeze frame on it.

"Why?"

"You know that band I've been listening to all day? That guy is their singer, but in EVERY video that has either him or anyone in the band in it, their faces are blurred out."

"Uhm, so? Who cares? They make music you like, so why does it matter?"

Sighing, Rogue turns to Kitty, "Curiosity I guess. Or maybe it's just the fact he has his face concealed, that makes me want to know what he looks like?"

Kitty just nods and turns her attention back to the screen before taking out her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Gonna see if I can find anything myself. You know the saying, two sets of eyes are better than one. Or something like that."

Nodding in unison, the two teens got to work. Other than the occasional question, the two girls sat in almost complete silence as the sound of typing on Rogue's keyboard filled the room.

Meanwhile, Ryan sat in his room, finally done unpacking his things and decorating his room a little. Flopping onto his bed, the boy takes his phone off his end table and starts scrolling through it. Going to his contacts, he finds his parent's house phone. Pressing the button to call them, he sits up and leans back on the wall. After a few minutes, the phone picks up and a very familiar voice comes over the speaker.

"Hello?" asked Ryan's mother in her usual polite and calm tone.

"Hey mom," Ryan replies as a small smile makes its way onto his face.

It takes his mother a few moments to react as silence is the only thing Ryan hears. However, it is soon replaced by the sound of his mother calling out to someone in the background.

"Alexander! Come here, Ryan's on the phone!" she yells away from the phone.

Ryan can barely contain a chuckle as he imagines his father bumbling into the living room in a hurry. He then hears huffing in the background as the man in question reaches his wife. With a simple press of a button, the couple put their son on speaker so as to not have to crowd their phone.

"Ryan?" asks the older man.

Nodding his head, Ryan laughs a little, "Yeah Dad it's me. Geez, no need to be so surprised, I've always called when I was staying somewhere else."

"Yeah, it's just," the woman trails off, only to be cut completely off by her husband.

"What your mother is trying to say is that we expected you to take a few days to get acclimated before calling. You know so you could tell if you wanted to stay."

Sighing, Ryan closes his eyes, "Yeah. Well, it's not like I have many options other than staying. Where else will I learn to control this?"

Opening his eyes, Ryan stares at his free hand as it shakes uncontrollably. A brief memory of him dropping several piles of clothes whilst unpacking flashes before his eyes. Clenching his eyes tightly and taking a deep breath, he concentrates on slowing down his movements. Eventually succeeding, he releases an all too familiar sort of breath.

"It's happening again isn't it?" asks his mother in a very hushed tone.

"Yeah," he begins. Laying over on his side, Ryan stares blankly at the ceiling. Putting on a blatantly forced smiled, he brute forces a happy tone out with his next words. "Anyways, I know you guys would have been worried sick if I didn't call to say we landed safely and all that jazz."

"Landed?!" yells his parents in almost complete unison.

"You mean they took you there on a plane?" asks his father.

"Yep, how you think I got from Iowa to New-freaking-York so quickly?" Ryan says smugly.

"See! There's that tone again! If you're not careful, that tone of yours may just get you into some big trouble!" exclaims his mother.

Ryan pictures his father visibly deflating behind his mother as a look of "dear god not again" overtakes his face.

"Now, now Cassandra. Now is not the time. Let's just be happy he's safe and sound."

"Fine. You're right, all that matters is that our baby boy is safe and getting the help he needs."

Ryan would never admit it, but his smile grows large as he overhears his parents, "Yeah, listen to Dad. Besides, I think, these people may end up liking my tone. No one really seemed offended at anything I've said today."

His mother quickly responds as a revelation hit her, "Oh, speaking of which, what all have you done today?"

Thinking for a moment, Ryan begins to single out a handful of things and lists off what all he had done since he departed from his longtime home. He then began to tell them all about how his trip to the pizza place for lunch, and his "battle" with the claw machine in the back, earning a light laugh from both his parents. He also purposefully left out any details about the X-men and such, including the entire interaction in the hallway with his new acquaintances. One thing, or person, in this case, he didn't leave out, was Rogue and a few of his interactions with her although he did change a few details about them. He didn't even realize he had told them about the young woman in question until his father spoke up.

"So, I'm assuming Rogue isn't her actual name."

"Probably. Might be a trust issues thing, I don't know," Ryan says with a shrug.

"Hm. Well, umm," his father trails off for a moment, "Hey Cassandra, can I have a few minutes to talk to him?"

"Sure, I should probably get dinner ready, what for though?"

"Oh, you know, father-son stuff."

Ryan lets out a snicker as nothing but silence is heard from the other end of the call.

Finally conceding, his mother sighs, "Okay, have your boy time," she then turns the focus of her words towards her son, "Ryan, we love you, stay safe, and be good!" she says as she audibly gets quieter, presumably from walking into the kitchen.

Hearing a click, Ryan then knows he's no longer on speaker phone and awaits the inevitable verbal hammering from his dad. But it never comes. All that comes over the speaker is the sound of his father's footsteps as he takes the phone into another room.

Hearing the footsteps stop, he speaks up, "So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, nothing, just a bit curious."

"About?"

"Oh, you know, that girl you were talking about, Rogue."

Ryan feels his face heat up at the statement. Searching his brain for what to say, he starts to scratch the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, what about her?"

"Wasn't she one of the people that came to pick you up?"

"Uhm, yeah. She was the one with the white in her hair."

"Ah, I figured," Alexander began before trailing off. The two sat in complete silence as the much older and wiser one finally started speaking again, "So, what do you think? You like it there?"

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief, _Thank god, I got out of that one easier than I thought I would._ Taking the question into consideration, Ryan's face turns to one of indifference, "At the moment? It's too early to tell. But, I'm not exactly clambering for a ticket home yet."

"Hmm, well maybe it'll grow on you here soon."

"Yeah, the idea of moving back so quickly doesn't seem so appealing. It just feels like I'd be giving up to quick."

"Yeah."

The father-son duo remains in silence for a few more minutes before Alexander sighs heavily, "Stick to it bud. You need to. Who knows how bad it might end up and how it may affect you if you don't."

"I know Dad. That's exactly why I wanted to come here. The last thing I want is to be performing on stage and then go running off in a blur," Ryan says with a chuckle.

"Oh, speaking of which, the guys dropped by earlier. They were hoping to get a chance to see you off and say goodbye in person. You can imagine Cody's surprise that they had already come to get you!"

"Yeah, even with all his planning, there are just some things you can't expect. Like them getting there to pick me up in a little over an hour!"

"I think that was a surprise to us all," said his father with a hearty laugh.

Smiling, Ryan imagined the looks of complete shock on his friend's faces that he had already left, _It's not like it's the last time I'll see them._ "Anyway, I got to go. Dinner will probably be ready soon and I don't wanna miss it."

"Okay son, you do that. Be sure to call every so often."

"Sure thing Dad. I will."

"And Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"We love you. We're so proud of you. For you to make a decision like this so young, it's amazing how much you've matured over the years."

Ryan sat there motionless, caught off guard by his father's words. Feeling tears slowly welling up, he drags his sleeve across his face and chokes out, "Thanks, Dad. I love you both."

"We know you do. Now dry it up, wouldn't want your little girlfriend to think you're a wuss, now would we?"

 _THERE IT FUCKING IS!_

Ryan couldn't help but laugh as he dried his eyes, erasing all evidence of what had just transpired. "See ya Dad."

"See ya bud."

As Ryan hung up and looked at his phone, a realization hit him. Quickly he sent a text to his Dad saying, **"She's not my girlfriend!"**

Seconds later, he received a reply from him. Checking it, Ryan groaned in annoyance as it only consisted of smiley face emojis. Going back to his home screen, he checked the time. _Six o'clock!? How long was I on the phone?_

Shaking his head, he glances around his room and grins. _Glad I packed light._ As he examined his lightly decorated room, a sense of familiarity washed over him. _Just a little slice of home._ As his eyes turn to one of the two pictures he brought, his grin falls. Taking it in his hand, he saw an exact copy of one of the photos in his parents living room. Slowly moving his gaze from each subject of the photo, his face becomes sullen as memories with each of them flash in front of him.

"Don't worry guys, I'll be back soon enough. I promised."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, in the girl's dorms, Rogue and Kitty hovered over a laptop.

"This is Donnie, signing out."

The two girls stared at each other in complete confusion at what they had heard. _He… Left the band? What happened? The video was posted a few hours ago so it must have been recently,_ Rogue thought as she examined the entirety of the YouTube page, hoping for a clue.

After failing to find one in the description, she turns her attention to the comments section. Looking to the top comment, she reads it aloud, "Can you give us a timeframe of when you might be back? Or a hint at why you have to go? Or even a way to keep up with you?"

Taking the mouse, Kitty clicks to see the replies to it, causing them both to go wide-eyed. Donnie had replied to them. However, instead of a typical "Sorry, I can't" or something like that, he actually wrote out a detailed response.

"Unfortunately, the soonest I'll be back is after high school, so maybe a year or so. As for the reason, to put it simply, I'm moving to another state for schooling. I'm sorry to say I can't go into any more detail than that as far as either of those go in order to not only protect my privacy but those that will be around me as well. And finally, I'm not sure whether I'll make a way for you guys to keep up with me as I probably won't have time to post or anything. BUT, never say never, maybe over the summer I'll change my mind and make a twitter or something. If I do, I'll put a link to it in the description since I still have the login info for the Digital Rebellion YouTube page," read Rogue.

Sharing a look with Kitty, she closed the laptop with a solemn look on her face, "We can do some more searching another time. It's about dinner time so this may be a good stopping point."

Nodding, Kitty smiles and hops off Rogue's bed, "Yeah, you're probably right. Besides, we need to let all the info we got to sink in. Like his clear fondness for snapbacks," she says with a boisterous laugh.

Smiling back, Rogue plugs her laptop back up and stretches. "Don't tell me that's the only thing you learned from all that researching."

Waving her hand in front of her in a dismissive fashion, Kitty replies, "Nah, I also learned he has a necklace of guitar picks!"

Rogue immediately turns to Kitty with an attentive look on her face, "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, someone was able to tell that in one of the videos he was wearing a little necklace with guitar picks all along it. Either that or some other small triangles."

 _Necklace of guitar picks? Why does that ring a bell?_ Grabbing a notebook from the small pile where she had left her school supplies from the previous year, she begins to write down everything she could think of about Donnie, even things from the Wikipedia page. _Wears snapbacks. Brown hair. Between 16 and 23. From Iowa. Guitar pick necklace. Sings. Plays guitar. Energetic (from what few examples are given). Somewhat pale. Relaxed posture (from what few examples are given). Basic knowledge of editing (At least)._

Curious, Kitty watches as her friend scribbles down a handful of words line after line. Seeing what she was doing, Kitty chimes in, "Don't forget his leather jacket. Lots of their videos have him in a leather jacket!"

Pausing, Rogue glances to Kitty and nods, writing down her statement. Upon finishing, she scratches her chin, rereading over all the facts they had learned about the mysterious man. However, her thoughts were cut off by a knock at the door.

Tossing the notebook to her bed, Rogue opens the door to reveal a nervous Jamie. "D-dinners ready!" he says before running off to tell others the news.

Surprised by the manner the boy had been acting, Rogue and Kitty look at one another.

"Was, he blushing?" asked Rogue.

"I… I think so?" Kitty says, not so sure herself.

Rogue just shrugs as she ignores the occurrence, "We shouldn't be surprised, he's what, a 14-year-old boy? You know how they can be around older girls."

"True," Kitty says with a small giggle.

And with that, the two made their way downstairs. On the way, they ran into none other than Ryan who had also apparently been told dinner was ready. After a quick explanation of Jamie's power, the three continued on their way to the dining room. Upon arriving there, Ryan was showed where plates and such were, and they took their plates into the parlor adjacent to the dining room to eat. Soon they were joined by a handful of others. Some of which Ryan knew, others, not so much.

The rest of the night was then spent introducing Ryan to whoever happened to pass by, much to his dismay of being made the complete center of attention already. After eating, they all took their plates to the kitchen to be cleaned by whoever was unlucky enough to earn cleaning duty for the night. Afterward, he and a few others made their way back to their respective rooms, saying goodnight on the way.

As he entered his room and closed the door for the night, Ryan smiled. _Well, that wasn't that bad. At least now I know most of the people here._ Changing into some gym shorts, he flops onto his bed as he looks at his phone. _Wow, we talked for a while, it's almost 10._ Setting said phone to the side, he turns his gaze to the other photo he brought with him, a photo of himself and his parents when he was a kid. Smiling, he closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep. _Well, it had been one hell of a day._

While Ryan lied in his bed, soundly drifting into unconsciousness, Rogue, however, was not. As a matter of fact, she sat wide awake as she shifted her gaze between a pixelated screenshot of "Donnie" and the list of things she had made earlier. _Something here is weird. It's like the more I think about it, the more familiar it becomes. And it's not like repetition familiar, it's like, I've seen this familiar._ With a groan of frustration, Rogue throws herself back on her bed. Setting her laptop off the side of her bed, she crawls under her covers. _Maybe a good night's sleep will help me figure this out. I've been trying to figure this out all day!_

Groaning once more, she ran through the days events through her head once more. While most were merely her searching countless Reddit posts looking for information regarding a singer that clearly didn't want to be known, at least not yet. While most of the rest shared a fairly major similarity. The rest of her day usually involved Ryan in some capacity.

She stops for a moment as she stares at the ceiling. _Ryan. A small smile makes its way across her face. He's a pretty nice guy. Nice to have someone else here into the same sort of stuff as me. I haven't had anyone like that around since...Risty._ Rogue's face quickly turns sour at the thought of what Mystique had done. Shaking her head, she forces the thoughts from her mind. _Well, there's no way Ryan is Mystique. She can copy appearances, but not powers, so it's safe to say Ryan isn't an imposter._ She then pauses for a moment. _I hope._

 **A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading! Honestly, I don't have an excuse for the length of time between chapters, especially since this chapter is the shortest so far (though it's still almost 5k words). What do y'all think about maybe having shorter chapters or less detailed chapters? Seeing as you guys have only seen Ryan's first day, I was wondering if you would rather some shorter, less detailed chapters as opposed to what I've been posting. Anyway, I'm rambling. If you have any problems with the story, besure to let me know in either a review or PM so I can take them into account while writing the next chapter! Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Love you too, bye mom."

Hanging up the phone, Ryan exhales a breath that he didn't know he was holding in. Running his fingers through his damp hair, he slouches forward on his bed. Feeling his hair had already gotten too dry to bother going back to the bathroom to properly dry it, he just puts his hat on and heads for the door to his room.

It's been a week since he'd arrived, and so far, he had no complaints. The people were friendly and helpful, and the mansion was quite homely. He hadn't visited the rest of Bayville quite yet but he had no doubt he would in due time.

One thing he hadn't expected, was the frequency in which the X-men went on missions. A grand total of 3 times he had seen them hurrying off into the basement, only to return hours later exhausted. _I don't think I could keep up with that amount of action._

Exiting his room and making his way towards the kitchen, his thoughts were drawn to the call he just had with his mom. She had called while he was in the shower and he decided to forego blow drying his hair in order to return her call. And for the most part, the call was the standard, "How are things? Are you remembering to do blah-blah?", even the question she had asked that had drawn out his uneasiness wasn't exactly out of the ordinary.

"So what have you guys been doing?"

Ryan had no idea how to answer the question initially as he hadn't told either of his parents about the X-men and his decision to not join them. Obviously, his silence had set off a red alert for his mother as she immediately began asking him whether or not he had even made friends with anyone.

Obviously, he couldn't tell her that he didn't exactly hang out with them a lot since they were usually either on a mission or recovering from a mission. So after telling her a little white lie that he couldn't be bothered to remember, he immediately changed the subject. Though, his attention was and still is directed towards the X-men as a whole. _Did I make the right choice? They might really need someone like me to help take some of the pressure off them._

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he stares at the floor as if it would have the answer to all the universe's questions. Finally, he shakes his head and continues towards his destination. _Yes, I did. Besides, even if I did join them, there's no way I'd have gone on those missions with them, I would still be way to green._

Making his way down the stairs and onto the first floor, he enters the kitchen to see a handful of friendly faces. Sitting at the table was Kurt, Evan, and Bobby, all of which with bowls in front of them. Off to the side stood Jean and Kitty as the two talked. Giving them a friendly nod, Ryan makes himself a bowl of cereal and takes a seat at the table with the other guys.

"Morning," he says, gaining their attention.

"Morning," they each respond in almost complete unison, causing them all to chuckle.

"So, what you guys up to today?"

"Nothing, unless a mission pops up. It's not usually this hectic. On a normal week, we may get a quick mission here or there, but nothing like these past few," Evan says hanging his head, exhausted.

"Really? What's made these past few missions so much harder?" Ryan asks as he eats a spoonful of cereal.

Kurt shakes his head, "Don't worry about it. Just the amount of them is all," Kurt says without looking up.

Ryan nods, clearly unconvinced, however, he drops the subject.

"So what are you doing today? More breathing exercises?" asks Bobby with a laugh.

"Oh haha. No, thankfully Storm knew that after the first session, it wasn't helping. And I think the Professor had a talk with Logan cause he hasn't had me try running constantly since I passed out and went flying into the wall of the danger room."

"Really? Then, how do you think they're gonna help you control yourself?" asks Evan.

Almost as if on cue, the hand Ryan was holding his spoon with, began to shake uncontrollably, splattering milk and soggy frosted flakes over the sides of the bowl. Dropping his spoon into the bowl to avoid making any more of a mess, he just sighs and curses under his breath.

"I don't know, but I hope it finally works," Ryan says, propping his head upon his steady arm.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Ryan looks up to see Jean. Looking her in the eyes, he nods before looking back to his cereal.

"I'm sure they'll find a solution soon enough," she said with a warm smile.

 _How can she be so sure of that? Nothing so far has worked. Not to mention I've been trying to control this since I was little. What have I not tried?_

Jean sighs, "I'm sure there are a few things you haven't tried. Not only because you didn't think about them, but also since you never had access to the sort of resources we've had here."

Shocked, Ryan stares up at Jean, "Did you just-"

"Read your mind? Yes. Yes she did," says Bobby as stands to wash his bowl.

Jean, however, recoils at the realization of what she had done. "I'm so sorry, sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it," she proclaims as she covers her mouth.

Ryan just forces a smile and scratches his head, " I guess it's okay, just don't do it too often. I like my privacy."

Jean smiles, still slightly embarrassed, "Yeah, I really don't plan on doing it at all, it just happens."

Chuckling, Ryan turns back to his food, "Oh I know that feeling, trust me."

Earning a small laugh from those in the kitchen, Ryan finishes the rest of his breakfast in relative quiet besides the occasional bit of small talk by the others. After finishing his food and cleaning his bowl, he makes his way back to his room.

Rounding a corner though, he feels something run into his chest. Stumbling back a step, he instinctively grabs the wrist of the now falling person in front of him. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what was in store for him as his fingers made contact with the bare wrist.

An excruciating pain began to rip through the entirety of his body, forcing him to immediately let go. Falling back onto the ground, he feels his muscles all tense up as the sensation soon leaves. After a moment, Ryan finally feels himself relax and allows his eyes to slowly open. As they open, they are met by a pair of grey ones staring back at him.

Clearly taken off guard, Rogue falls back from her crouched position over him. "Dear lord, you had me worried there for a second, you okay?" she asks cautiously.

Shaking himself a bit, Ryan eventually nods, "Yeah, I think so. What was that?"

Rogue immediately freezes at the inquiry and averts her eyes. Slumping her shoulders, she speaks up, "My power."

"Oh," he replies.

Taking a moment, he begins to stand up, using the wall for a bit of support. Upon making it to his feet, he slowly extends his hand out to the girl still sitting on the floor.

"Okay, this time, let's not do whatever we just did," he says with a weak chuckle.

Smiling, Rogue takes his hand and is pulled to her feet. Taking a step back, she rubs her arm nervously, "Yeah, that's what happens when someone touches me. Well, at least when my skin touches someone else's skin."

"Well damn, that sucks," he says before pausing. "I guess that at least makes for a good self-defense mechanism."

Taking in his words, Rogue can't help but grin a little, "I guess that's one way to look at it," she says staring at her hand. The mood then turns somber once again, "Though, it would be nice to be able to control it. Instead of it being stuck on."

Ryan nods, knowing there's not much he can say in this situation. Looking around, he sees that they're the only ones in the hall. _Well at least no one else was here to witness that_ , he thinks as he rubs his palm trying to get rid of the last of the stinging sensation in his hand. Eventually satisfied, he turns to a surprisingly quiet Rogue. Looking at her, he sees she hasn't really moved like she had completely zoned out.

Snapping his fingers in front of her, he finally gets her attention, "Hey, you okay there?"

Shaking her head vigorously, she nods, "Yeah, still just a little shaken up."

"Ah. Well, you, uh, need me to like walk you to your room or something?" he asks hesitantly. _Let's hope that didn't sound weird!_

Smiling, Rogue shakes her head, "No, but thanks."

Shrugging, Ryan smiles, "Well, I'll see you later. I'm gonna go relax before I inevitably get called to try a new method of controlling myself."

"See ya," Rogue replies as he making his way down the hall.

When he rounds the corner, she immediately slides down the wall. Rubbing her forehead, she grits her teeth as she sees a handful of memories flash before her eyes. However, these memories weren't exactly her own, and that she knew very well. One image that caught her attention, was a mental image of a mic standing in front of Ryan and a camera standing on a tripod a few feet away.

Heading back to her room, Rogue lays on her bed, mentally analyzing the memories she had obtained. _They… All seem to be of him and his friends… His band. Did they record themselves or something? Wait… A guitar pick necklace!_ Sitting straight up, Rogue looks to the list she had made filled with info about "Donnie" and immediately sees what she was looking for. _"Guitar pick necklace"!_

Grabbing the list, she runs out the door, and into the halls. Eventually seeing Kitty sitting in the parlor, she hops over the back of the couch and sits beside her.

"Kitty!" she yells as she lands.

Kitty, surprised by how energetic Rogue seemed, slips off the couch and onto the floor. Groaning, she sits up and narrows her eyes at her roommate, "Jeez, give me some warning before you do something like that."

"Worry about that later, right now, listen to what happened a little while ago!" Rogue says, in a rush.

Sighing, Kitty lounges against the armrest of the couch facing Rogue, "Okay, what's up?"

"Okay, earlier when I rounded a corner, Ryan and I bumped into each other. Well, he tried to catch me, and when he did, our skin touched and long story short I absorbed some of his memories," blurts out Rogue.

"Okay, so what did you see?" Kitty asks, swinging her feet off the couch, giving Rogue her full attention.

"Well for one, I learned that he and his band of friends back in Iowa used to record themselves doing something. From the little bit I saw, I think it was just them recording themselves playing songs. The other thing I found out, the reason I ran to find you, is that I found out Ryan actually has a guitar pick necklace!"

Kitty pauses for a moment, absorbing the information she had just been given. After a moment, she finally returns her gaze to Rogue, "So what? You think Ryan and Donnie are one in the same?"

Rogue nods, "I think it may be possible. These may just be coincidences but they may not be. I mean think about it, have you seen him far from one of his hats? The physical description is pretty accurate other than the skin tone being a tad off," Rogue says trailing off.

"You're right about that, Donnie almost looks like a vampire, while Ryan just looks like a typical guy out of a nearby high school," Kitty says rubbing her chin.

"Anyway, I can attest that he can be pretty energetic at times, like at Mario's on his first day."

"True, from what I heard, it really was a sight to see."

"See what I'm talking about?" Rogue asks as she clenches the paper in her hands a bit tighter.

Kitty once again goes quiet as she ponders over all the details. Sighing, her eyes meet Rogue's, "Can we really consider a guitar pick necklace a clue? Or even the recording thing? I mean I'm sure a lot of aspiring musicians have necklaces like that as well as record themselves. After all, they have to get their music out there."

Rogue begins to slump forward, as if energy was being drained from her body, "Yeah, you're probably right. Hell, I might be misinterpreting things, I only got a few snippets of his memories anyway. Or I could just be seeing the possibility of a connection and was just seeing what I wanted to see."

Kitty nods, "That's also a possibility."

With a heavy sigh, Rogue stands up, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna go get some fresh air. Maybe that'll help me when it comes to figuring out who Donnie is," she says with a small laugh.

"Okay bud, I'll see you later," Kitty says as she watches Rogue leave the room.

Meanwhile, Ryan sat on his bed, scrolling through news feeds. _Wow, they're still reporting on me leaving the band? Is there nothing better to report on?_ Shaking his head, he rubs his shoulder as he feels a twinge of pain for a brief second. _Damn, that run in with Rogue was really no joke. Speaking of which, she seemed a bit more shaken up by it than I was. I wonder if she's okay._ Sitting up, he looks to the door. Putting his shoes back on, he gets up and heads to the door. Leaving his room, he heads towards her room. When he gets there, he raises his hand to knock on the door but is interrupted by a voice from behind him.

"Hey, Ryan! Just the guy I was looking for," said someone behind him.

Turning around, he's greeted by the smiling face of Jean. Returning her friendly smile, he turns his full attention to her, "Oh really? What's up?"

"Nothing, much. I was told to come and find you and tell you that Storm and Forge are waiting for you in the danger room."

Nodding, Ryan turns to head straight to the danger room, "Thanks, maybe they found a way for me to control my powers."

"Maybe," Jean says as a thought hits her, "What were you doing here in the girl's section?"

Feeling his face heat up, Ryan chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head, "Oh, I was just coming to check on Rogue. I thought I saw her head off this way."

Upon hearing this, Jean adopts a sly grin as she looks at the brunette, "Oh really? Why is that?"

Now becoming far more embarrassed than before, Ryan tries to blurt out an answer, "O-oh nothing too major. We just had a little a-accident were our skin touched."

Suddenly growing much more serious, Jean watches Ryan closely, "Was anyone hurt?"

As she asks this, Ryan feels a twinge of faint pain in his arm. Shaking his head, he smiles warmly at Jean, "No, not really. It was like when you touch an electric fence and immediately stop. It just kind of burned sort of. I don't know how to describe it," he finishes with a chuckle.

With a small smile appearing on her face, Jean nods and starts to leave before glancing over her shoulder, "Let us know how it goes, I'm sure everyone else is as curious as I am as to how things go when it comes to controlling your powers."

With a light grin, Ryan makes his way to the danger room in the second sub-basement. Reaching the elevator, he presses the button for said floor and waits patiently as it sends him further and further into the ground. Upon opening, Ryan immediately steps out of the elevator and takes a deep breath. _God, I hate going down in those things. Especially into the ground._

With another deep breath, Ryan steels his nerves and heads into the locker room nearby. Seeing the two who wished to see him as he entered the room, Ryan approached them calmly.

"Hey, you guys wanted to see me?"

Forge turns to face him in a flash, excitement plastered on his face, "Yep! I think I've finally come up with something to help you!"

Clearly skeptical, Ryan raises an eyebrow, "Oh really now?"

Smirking widely, Forge steps off to the side to reveal some sort of suit, laid on a bench, "If you don't believe me, then why don't you try it on?"

Stepping over to the suit cautiously, Ryan shifted his glance between Storm and Forge, still not completely sure what exactly to do. Picking up the suit, holding it by its shoulders, Ryan examines it. _Hmm is that an oxygen tank on the belt? And what's with the padding on the chest and arms? Hell, why is it a full body suit? How would I walk around in public with this thing on?_ Turning his head slightly, he narrows his eyes at Forge slightly, "Okay, so how is this thing suppose to help me control my powers?"

Folding his arms and smiling, Forge replies, "You see, the reason we failed till now to find a solution to helping you, is because we've been looking at this all in the completely wrong way! We were looking for a way to control when you sped up so to speak. When in reality, the answer isn't to suppress your powers, it's to indulge in them. Your body acts up the way it does because it wants to travel at such high speeds, yet you won't let it. That's where this suit comes in. With this suit, you should be able to travel at the speeds that would usually cause you tons of difficulty. Once you start to indulge in them, you should begin to have fewer and fewer spasms like you have."

Taking all this in, Ryan stayed silent as he looked over the suit when another question popped into his head, "Okay, so do tell me how exactly this works because as far as I know, I don't absorb oxygen through my skin if that's what you were thinking."

Forge and Storm laugh at Ryan's remark and Storm steps up next to the young man. Taking the glove off one of the arms, she rolls the sleeve up a little, revealing several dozen tiny needles in the wrists, "As you can see, Forge here has incorporated an oxygen tank at the small of the back that has a series of small tubes running through the suit, eventually reaching the wrist where a series of needles will be used to inject oxygen directly into your bloodstream, taking much of the burden off your lungs."

Ryan remains silent as he stares at the series of small needles in the suit. While to many others, the needles may only be a minor inconvenience when it came to something like being able to breathe at extremely high speeds, he saw it as an option that he refused to consider. The idea of having possibly dozens of needs stuck in him while running at speeds no human should ever be able to reach did not sit right with him, causing him to set the suit on the bench. "I'm not wearing that."

Clearly taken aback, Forge stares at Ryan in disbelief, "W-why not?"

Turning his attention to the technically much older male, Ryan shakes his head, "For one, those needles. What if I were to hit something while in that thing and jerk my arm suddenly? The last thing I want is to rip my veins out of my wrist. Another thing is I can't wear this thing all the time. To put it simply, I don't think there's much as far as clothes go that could go over that without looking beyond goofy. And finally, and this one is crucial," he begins as he exchanges glances between Storm and Forge, "I'm not here to indulge in my powers. I'm here to learn how to control them. At least to the point that I can lead a somewhat unhindered life."

Now it was Forge's turn to be silent. He had never had someone outright refuse to use one of his creations before. Then again, he wasn't making something for the same reasons that he usually did. Usually, when something like this needed to be made, it was so someone could use their powers unhindered in a combat situation. Simply put, he usually built things for the X-men. Not people in Ryan's situation. "You're right, dude. I've been looking at this entirely the wrong way," he says as he locks eyes with Ryan. "I've been working on this as if it were just another project for just another X-men, not another mutant," he says trailing off. Suddenly, Forge grins nervously, "I don't even know how the needle thing got past the design phase!"

Chuckling, Ryan walks over and pats Forge on the back, "Yeah, that was a bit of an oversight. But then again, everyone makes mistakes. After all, powers or not, we're all human."

Smiling, Storm nods, "That's true. It's nice to see someone so new here already realize that. Many refuse to acknowledge that fact and end up becoming the very thing we train to stop."

Seeing the conversation may head towards a topic he would like to avoid, Ryan pats Forge again, "But hey, I do appreciate your effort dude, it means a lot."

Nodding, Forge smiles, "No problem man, anytime! Actually, speaking of any time, I'm gonna go start thinking of a different way to solve this problem!"

And with that, Forge made his way back to his lab. As he disappeared around the corner, Ryan felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking over, he sees Storm with a smile on her face. She said nothing however as she then proceeded to walk off, leaving the young man alone.

 _Hmm, well that wasn't what I was hoping would happen when I got down here, though I guess it can't be helped._

Sighing, Ryan also takes his leave, heading to the elevator. When he gets there, he takes a deep breath and steps in. _Damn these things._ Pressing the first-floor button, he waits as patiently as he can for the elevator to get to the surface, and as soon as it does, he doesn't hesitate to almost leap out of it. Looking back at the contraption responsible for his unease, Ryan narrows his eyes.

Calming his nerves, he then looks around, seeing no one. _Hmm, I wonder what I should do now…_

"Ugh, what should I do?" groaned Rogue as she laid on a concrete bench in the garden. Sitting up with a huff, she slouches forward, resting her chin in her hand. _This whole 'Who is Donnie' thing is really getting old. Like, is it really that bad to let your fans know who you are? Do people really value privacy THAT much?! I mean it's not like you're giving out your address and personal information, all people want is a face to put with the voice. Is that so much to ask!?_

Groaning once more, this time much louder, Rogue takes out her phone and instinctively goes straight to Spotify. Clicking a random playlist, she relaxes as she begins to lose herself in the music. As song after song begins and ends, she starts to forget all about her frustration little by little. That is until a song she doesn't recognize begins to play. _Acoustic? I don't remember putting any acoustic songs on this playlist._ Looking at her phone for the answer, she realizes she was right, she didn't.

She did, however, forget to put the playlist on repeat, causing Spotify to start playing songs it thought she'd like, based off that playlist. Seeing this as a slight inconvenience, Rogue starts to click on another playlist when a strange sense of familiarity overtakes her. _Wait a second. Have I heard this song before?_

 _I let you in, you pushed me out_

 _You left me on my own, you left me all alone_

 _I let you in, you tore me down_

 _You left me skin and bone, you left me all alone_

 _You left me all alone_

As the song went on, Rogue continued to wonder where exactly she had heard the song from. _I only remember the beginning of the song, the rest all seems new_ … Then it hits her. _Wait! This is the song Ryan was singing on the flight here!_ Leaping to her feet, Rogue stares at her phone as she fumbles through her lock screen. As the lock screen fades, Rogue is met with yet another clue. _You're Gone - Digital Rebellion._ Pausing, Rogue thinks through each possibility for why Ryan was able to match the song perfectly last week. _Could this mean he really IS Donnie? No, no, no, don't get ahead of yourself Rogue, first think about all the possibilities. Could he be a fan as well? I mean, we both like the same sort of music, our tastes are bound to overlap in places. Or could he just be a fan of the song and not the band? There's no real way to tell, other than asking him. But how would that go? Oh, hey do you like this band, that I may or may not think you're the mysterious singer of? No, that's not happening…_

Running her fingers through her hair, Rogue sighs, "There's no way this can all be a coincidence. It all fits too well to be one," she says to no one in particular.

 _Okay, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Even if he is Donnie, what's the likelihood he'd admit it?_ Frustrated once more, Rogue groans and sits back on the bench with her face in her hands. After a few moments, she hears the sound of the back door opening and closing. Glancing up, she sees the source of all her frustration.

Momentarily forgetting this, however, Rogue just watches as Ryan walks outside in an almost disinterested fashion. She noted the lazy look in his eye as he looked around. Taking out his phone and earbuds, Ryan soon began to listen to music as he walked off to the side of the garden, away from Rogue. Intrigued by the sudden change in behavior from him, she decided to stand up and slowly follow him.

While she did so, she watched as he would stop every so often to look at the flowers and such that were planted alongside the path. While he was clearly paying attention to his immediate surroundings, it was obvious his mind was elsewhere. Curious, Rogue began to slowly catch up to him. As she finally got within feet of him, she was surprised he either hadn't noticed her or hadn't acknowledged her presence. Which one it ended up being though was answered when she reached out and tapped him on the holder, causing him to jump a little.

Giggling a little, Rogue grins, "Scare ya?"

Leaning on his back leg, Ryan smiles lightly, "Nah. Just pretending to be. Yeah, that's totally it."

As they both let out a small chuckle, Rogue spoke up again, "So, what are ya doing out here? Just chilling?"

Ryan shrugs, "I guess. I like the quiet the outdoors can give off every now and then."

"Still not used to not being in a big city?"

"I wouldn't say that. The size of the city ain't it. It's the amount of peace and quiet I can get. Back home, there was always so much going on that you can barely stop to think," he says as he casts his gaze across a small patch of flowers, "Not exactly my ideal hangout, but at least it's quiet."

Rogue only nods as Ryan seemingly gets lost in thought. He seems so at peace here. _Who would think a metal singer, would be so at home in such a quiet setting?_ As she thought, she couldn't help but sneak glances at him whenever she got the chance. While doing so, she notices something strangely familiar. His hat. The base color of it being a flat black as a silver lion covered about half of it. Seeing this, Rogue smirked. _Gotcha. There's no doubt now._

"So, how you feeling? After our little incident I mean," Ryan said, catching Rogue off guard.

Merely shrugging, she smiles slightly, "I'm good."

Nodding, Ryan stuffs his hands in his pockets, "That's good. I still feel a little sting in my shoulder if I move it just right but I doubt that'll be there later."

"Yeah, we didn't touch for long enough for it to get really bad," Rogue replies as she walks alongside the man.

 _It's so peaceful out here,_ Ryan thought as he listened very closely to the ambient sounds of the outdoors. Birds chirping, wind blowing through leaves, causing them to rustle. To him, it all felt, calming. While he did enjoy the advantages of living back in Cedar Rapids, being in such a small city, by comparison, was a nice change of pace. Here, he could still do things like go and hang out in a mall or something but he could also go for a walk without bumping into anyone if he didn't want to. However, to him, the best thing about Bayville so far was the amount of quiet that he could enjoy. The very same quiet that he ended up enjoying with Rogue for most of what was left of day. While they did talk every so often, much of the time they spent, was in complete silence.

Later that day, as Ryan stared at his ceiling while the moonlight shone through his window, he couldn't help but smile to himself. _It's nice having someone like Rogue around. Sometimes it's nice to just be around someone. No words, no over the top antics to get up to._ Closing his eyes, he begins to drift off to sleep as one final thought slips into the forefront of his mind. _When the hell are we going to find a solution to… me._

 **A/N - Hey guys, thanks for sticking around! Sorry if this chapter sucked or any characters are just beyond out of character, I'm still trying to get the hang of writing for them so it's been a bit of a struggle. As usual, feel free to voice any questions, concerns or anything about the story in a review or PM. Thanks, and hopefully see ya soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

"You're kidding me," Ryan deadpanned, arms crossed with a look on his face that spelled clear annoyance.

"As a matter of fact," Forge said, eyeing his latest creation with a proud smile. "I'm being very serious. This shirt is designed to send the signals that your body's failing to send itself. Instead of letting your lungs run out of oxygen because your brains just can't send the message fast enough, this should help them get the memo that they're slacking. It's not a complete solution, but it should keep you from passing out for now, and help build up your lung capacity for the future."

Still feeling very skeptical, Ryan took Forge's creation into his own hands to inspect it closer. It just looked like an excessively tight shirt to him. Turning it inside out, Ryan found a handful of thin wires tracing through the inside of the top. Curious, he followed the wires to a small battery pack that was still sitting on the table in front of Forge.

"That's the power supply for the electrodes," Forge informed him. "I made sure it would be small enough to fit in your pocket, and the wires should be mistaken for a pair of headphones as long as no one looks too closely."

"Ok, so why does this thing need a power supply?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow at the scientist.

Forge cleared his throat and walked over to a board with the image of the insides of a human being. "You see, the brain sends out specific signals to communicate specific things to the body. For example, the signal it sends to your diaphragm to make you breathe faster or slower, are different from what it might send to your hand to pick something up. The electrodes are like the messengers- they carry the signal from your brain to where they need to go." As he spoke, he moved his hand to indicate various points on the picture. "Does that make sense?"

After giving the words a moment to settle in, Ryan let out a gusty sigh. "It made enough sense that you don't need to explain further."

"Okay then," Forge laughed, taking the shirt back. "Let me show you how to put it on. Take your shirt off."

Hesitantly, Ryan tugged his own shirt off over his head and tossed it onto the table. Forge took a moment to check over the electrodes and carefully turn the shirt right side out again before handing it over. Ryan managed to shimmy it on and gave a few experimental twists and turns.

"Bit tight, aint it?" he asked, sucking in a few experimental breaths.

Forge shot him a smile as he pulled a few batteries out of a pocket and began loading them into the power supply. "Trust me," he said, slipping the plastic cover over the batteries back into place. "Once we turn it on, you won't even notice it."

Forge flipped the switch, and Ryan waited patiently for something to happen. A full minute had nearly passed before he spoke up. "I don't feel anything. I just feel like the shirt is a bit, ya know, constricting."

Forge had obviously been waiting for just this, turning towards the door and gesturing for Ryan to follow with a knowing grin. Ryan's confusion was only increased when they turned a corner and he recognized the danger room ahead. Forge led them straight in, pausing to hold the door open and wave Ryan in before shutting it behind them.

"So?"

"Run," Forge said as he crossed his arms and smirked.

Ryan rolled his eyes but obligingly settled into a sprinter's stance. With a deep breath, he launched himself forward into a dead sprint around the room, causing Forge to stumble back from the impact of the air Ryan had disturbed slamming against his chest. Ryan lost count of how many laps he had made it around the room before coming to a sliding, panting, stop.

Propping himself on his right hand, he held his left tight against his chest as he gasped for air. A wide smile was plastered across his face, not even wavering when his attempt to stand only ended in him falling gracelessly back onto his butt. Giving up on that for now, he instead threw his head back and let out a boisterous laugh, letting himself flop backwards as he cheered and whooped in celebration.

"You did it dude!" he howled, struggling to his feet to engulf the other man in a crushing hug. "You fucking did it!"

Forge returned the hug with gusto, caught up in the success of his own creation and the sheer joy radiating off of the boy in his arms. "This is just the start, dude," he promised. "Just imagine what I can do with a little more time. I might be able to help you run for longer than any other human in history! Just think about it! With enough training, you could start doing laps around the globe!"

Ryan pulled back, the smile possibly glued to his face forever, to lock eyes with Forge. "As awesome as that sounds, if this thing really works the way you said it works, then it should be enough. The spasms will stop. I don't plan on running cross planet."

Forge turned aside with a chuckle to drape an arm across Ryan's shoulders. "You never know. It may come in handy, being able to run to the other side of the world in almost an instant."

"Maybe," Ryan shrugged. "I mean, I don't think I'll ever need it, but I guess it couldn't hurt to have the option..."

"See? You're coming around, hell maybe you'll even join the X-men."

Ryan's smile faded as the image of his band-mates and family flashed before his eyes. "I don't know about that," he sighed. "I've got a life outside of here, waiting for me to get back to it."

Their arms remained draped over each other, but the jubilant celebration had taken on a more somber mood as the two made their way towards the elevator. As the doors opened with a little ding, Ryan took the chance to glance at a clock on the wall. It was only about nine thirty, still pretty early in the day. After stepping into the elevator alongside Forge, Ryan leaned his weight against one of the walls to close his eyes and try to calm himself down.

"You okay over there?" Forge asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah." Ryan opened his eyes and nodded his head slightly. "Just a bit shaken from going for that long."

Forge seemed to accept this answer, and the ride up to the ground floor continued in silence. When the elevator finally arrived and the door opened, Ryan hastily exited and let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding in.

"Don't like elevators?"

"Not really. Hate how enclosed they are. If something goes wrong, you're pretty much screwed."

"Maybe in a typical elevator, but these are state of the line and fitted with more safety measures than you could imagine," Forge informed him. "But enough about that, let's go get some breakfast. I'm sure you're about as hungry as I am."

In the kitchen, Ryan was hardly surprised to be met with a handful of other students already eating their own morning meals. What caught him off-guard, was the earsplitting wolf-whistle that greeted him as well. Glancing around in surprise and confusion, his eyes landed on Jubilee standing over by the sink, her hands still poised near her lips which were curved up in a wicked grin.

"I guess modesty has gone out the window with you, huh?" she giggled.

With a quick glance down, Ryan was horrified to realize he was still dressed in the ridiculously tight shirt Forge had made. It left nothing above the waist to the imagination, and Ryan's face was beginning to burn with embarrassment. Before he could form the words to blurt out an apology, someone else spoke up.

"Well if it has," said Ray, waving a spoon at Jubilee, "you clearly ain't complaining."

Jubilee let out a laugh and shook her head. "Complaining? No. But I already got my eyes on someone else, so it makes no difference to me."

"Oh, really?" Ray asked with a dubious look. "Who?"

"Well it's not you," she responded, crossing her arms. "So what do you care?"

While the others bickered, Ryan turned away to make himself some toast and ate it leaning against the counter. When he had finished his breakfast and brought his plate to the sink, where it was snatched up by a copy of Jamie who was busy washing the dishes already there, he and Forge abandoned the kitchen and returned to the hallways to wander about.

"So, what are we gonna do about your shirt?" Forge asked.

"I'll get it next time I'm down there," Ryan shrugged, his hands clasped behind his head. "We're closer to my room right now, so I can just get another one for today."

"So you don't mind people staring at you like that?"

"I don't mind staring, I just like to know why beforehand."

Their wandering had lead them to the day room where they both flopped down into the neatly arranged white wicker chairs. Ryan took in a deep breath and let himself relax in the quiet atmosphere around him. One of the walls was taken up almost entirely by a massive window which allowed for a beautiful view of the garden path he had walked down with Rogue a few days ago. As he stared out at the serene gardens, he found himself wondering what she was up to now. They hadn't really talked since that day. Every time they'd run into each other, she would run off on some errand or another before he could get two words out.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Forge asked, breaking the silence.

Ryan tore his eyes away from the window and gave his attention back to Forge."Hit me."

"Why don't you want to join the X-men?"

Ryan dropped his gaze back to the floor as he considered his answer. He knew the question was coming sooner or later. "Like I said, I have a life waiting for me out there. Not the usual 'going to college' shit, I'm talking about something... extraordinary." Ryan paused to glance at Forge, then returned his eyes to his feet. "Everyone has a dream. Most people spend their whole lives chasing after it, whether it's a dream of having fame, or riches, or love. The thing is, I already have my dream, and it's waiting for me to get back to it. But I'm not sure how long it's willing to wait."

The room lapsed back into silence after that. Forge looked like he was struggling to process what Ryan had told him, and Ryan contemplated whether or not he should say more. His first instinct was to keep his mouth shut, but seeing his friend in such distress made him deeply uncomfortable. It might not be that bad, Ryan reasoned with himself. He really doubted Forge would know who his band was, anyways.

With a groan of resignation, Ryan sat up to catch Forge's eye. "I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," he said. "At least not until after I leave this place, Okay?"

Taken aback from the seriousness in his voice, Forge nodded. "Yeah, sure thing dude."

"Do you know of a band called Digital Rebellion?"

Forge scratched at his chin, but shook his head and after a moment said, "No, I haven't heard of them."

"I figured. Before I came here to deal with my... problem, I was a member of that band. I'm on a hiatus while I'm here, but that will end as soon as I can get a handle on things and go back. But when I was in the band, I went by the alias Donnie so I could keep my personal life, well, personal."

When Ryan looked up Forge was listening intently while Ryan spoke, soaking up every detail carefully.

"You have no idea," Ryan chuckled, "how many people out there are desperate to figure out who I really am. Hell, you should see some of the wild accusations and theories they've been throwing around since word got out that I'm leaving the band for a while. But I'm getting off topic... My point is, I want you to understand why I'm not really interested in joining the X-men."

Forge didn't answer him right away, lost deep in thought and staring through Ryan like he wasn't even there. Finally, when Ryan almost couldn't take it anymore, Forge blinked himself back awake and muttered, "I understand. Completely."

Ryan's shoulders relaxed and a relieved smile bloomed to life across his face at his friend's understanding. Another few minutes passed in a companionable silence before Ryan broke it again.

"Go ahead," he prompted Forge. "I'm sure you have some questions about my life. Everyone does when they find out."

Forge brightened up at that and immediately launched into his first question. "What's it like? Ya know, having tons of fans and stuff."

"It's really not as big of a deal as you might think, especially since no one actually knows what I look like, so I don't get recognized on the street or anything like that. It's only really noticeable when I'm reading comments on YouTube or browsing forums."

Forge seemed satisfied by this answer and moved on. "So how did your band get so popular?"

Ryan gave a shrug. "I have no idea, really. A buddy of mine suggested we make a music video of one of our songs one day. And to be honest, it was terrible. The editing was horrible, and so were the actual video bits, cause we didn't put much time into each clip before splicing in a new one. Overall, it was... absolute trash." Ryan couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. "Eventually, we ended up having a friend's dad record and edit the videos for us, which really helped with the quality. I think that was about the time we really started to blow up."

Forge opened his mouth, obviously about to ask something else when a new voice interrupted him.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Ryan spun in his seat to find Tabitha leaning on the door frame behind him, her arms were crossed loosely over her chest, and her jaw didn't pause in its motion as she chewed her gum. When he met her eyes, however, he didn't see the gaze of a person who had just overheard someone's most life-shattering secret, so he let himself hope she hadn't heard anything important.

"Uh, you two gonna answer me, or are you just gonna sit there and stare?" she asked, clearly annoyed, as she popped her gum.

"Nothing," Ryan said, shaking his head with a small smile. "We were just chilling."

Tabitha arched a brow and narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh really now? It didn't sound like nothing to me. It sounded like you have a not so little secret," she said, smirking and leaning in closer with every word. "What's this about being a superstar, hm?"

Ryan froze under her stare, his eyes blown wide as dinner plates, and gaping uselessly for words that wouldn't come.

Forge stepped in to save him with a hearty laugh. "What!? You honestly believe that? That Ryan, this Ryan, is some sort of big shot musician living a double life? Dear Lord, Tabitha, use your head."

Tabitha reeled back, glancing between the two with doubt warring against the smug satisfaction in her eyes.

"Ryan was telling me how he's a really good liar," Forge continued. "And I didn't believe him, so he was telling me some wild tales. That's all."

Tabitha's bright blue eyes bore into Ryan's for a moment before she crossed her arms with a smirk. "Ya know, for a sec there, you almost had me," she said, still staring at Ryan even as she spoke to Forge. "But I guess your boy Ryan here is just not that good of a good liar after all. Just look at that guilty face!"

"They won't believe you, ya know," Forge said, the humor dropped from his voice as he looked between Ryan, who had lowered his head guiltily into his hands and Tabitha who looked like a cat who had just caught a canary and was deciding how long to play with it before eating it.

A laugh brought everyone's attention back to Ryan who had sat back up, his lips pulled up into a smile of his own. "I don't know why I was so worried," he chuckled to himself. "You don't actually know who I am, and even if you did, no one would believe you. It's all too ridiculous."

"I do so know who you are!" Tabitha squared her shoulders, but there was a faint red tinting across her cheeks.

"Yep. Like I suspected. You have no idea. And as long as things stay that way, there's no way you can screw me over."

Tabitha glared at the young man before her as he leaned back victoriously. "Then I'll just look up bands with members who have secret identities. It can't be that hard," she said, recovering her previous air of arrogance.

"Oh really now?" Ryan snorted. "And even if you were to somehow figure it out, how would you convince anyone else to believe you without proof?"

"Simple," she chirruped, whipping out her phone to snap a picture of him. "By giving them something to compare against. I'll just hold this photo up next to your celebrity self. After that, the truth will be obvious."

Ryan snatched at her phone, but Tabitha shoved it back into her pocket before he could grab it.

"Fine," Ryan snapped. "What do you want to keep quiet about this?"

"That's a good question," Tabitha hummed, rubbing at her chin in mock thoughtfulness. "I'll be sure to get back to you on that... Donnie." With a wink she was gone, leaving Ryan frozen in place.

 _She played me_ , he realized, _like a damn violin_. Tabitha was long gone by the time he found his voice again. He glanced back at Forge, but his friend just ducked his head and looked away.

"Look, man," Ryan sighed. "Before you go and blame yourself, you should know I'm not upset with you at all. I wasn't counting on someone eavesdropping on us, especially here where everyone's so into privacy and not asking questions about people's powers and stuff, but clearly I was mistaken."

Forge just gave a desolate nod. "I still feel a bit responsible. I was the one that asked."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, bro," Ryan said with a helpless roll of his shoulders. "Come on, let's go do something else to get our minds off it."

"Where are we going now?"

"To get me a more normal shirt. I swear if I didn't know better, that bitchy blonde was checking me out the entire time."

Forge burst into a fit of laughter and draped his arm back over Ryan's shoulder. "Not at all, dude. Trust me."

"Hey, a man can dream!" Ryan threw his arm back over Forge and they continued on towards the dorms, laughing as they went.

The sight of the two young men, laughing and jostling each other down the hallway brought a smile to the Professor's face as he passed them. As the sounds of their jubilation faded, behind him, his own smile dropped and he turned his chair towards an elevator hidden behind the nearby wall which let him out into a wider, brightly lit, hallway.

At the end of this hallway lay a pair of heavy metal doors which split apart at his approach, allowing him to roll down the narrow walkway within and pluck the helmet from the podium at the end. As he settled its familiar weight onto his head, he reached out his consciousness to feel for the world around him. His eyes blinked back open in surprise when he felt several familiar signatures grouped up near the mall. Closing his eyes, he reached out again, this time for one signature in particular. Logan, he called, when he felt his mind make contact with the one he was searching for. Gather the team. I have a job for you.

Meanwhile, on a balcony overlooking the main entrance, Rogue was hunched over her laptop, humming along to the song playing through her headphones while she finished another paragraph. She'd been assigned a five page essay over the summer about how she'd spent it, and was puzzling over how to stretch 'I ate, slept, and watched YouTube videos' into five pages when she noticed Logan trying to catch her attention from the lobby below.

When he saw she had plucked out her headphones he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out, "Meet us in garage in five! Something's going down at the mall."

Rogue closed her laptop, happy for the excuse to take a much needed break, and quickly headed for the locker room in the sub-basement to get changed. On her way she was surprised to hear her name called out.

"Hey Rogue!" came a familiar shout. "Wassup?"

Ryan and Forge were walking down the same hallway in the other direction. Ryan was waving an arm at her as they approached.

Rogue remained silent for a moment as she noticed his strange attire. "So um," she asked, ignoring the heat she felt creeping across her cheeks. "What's with the... shirt?"

"Oh this?" Ryan made a show of glancing down as if just discovering what he was wearing. "Forge made it. It lets me run for longer without passing out, isn't that cool?"

Rogue's brows pinched together as she studied the shirt, but other than it being extremely revealing about what was underneath, it didn't seem all that special.

"So what are you up to?" Ryan asked, changing the subject before she could ask more questions.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, shoving past the boys to jog down the hallway. "You distracted me. I have a mission. I gotta go."

"Dude," Forge laughed when he was sure Rogue was out of earshot. "She totally digs you."

"Oh, shut up," Ryan laughed, giving Forge a rough shove, but his cheeks were burning as they continued on towards his dorm.

Upon reaching the locker room, Rogue quickly changed into her uniform and tossed her laptop into her locker. She barely took the time to tie her boots properly before grabbing her gloves and sprinting for the garage. The van door was open and waiting for her, and she hopped in without breaking stride. Closing the door behind herself, she slumping into her seat and caught her breath as she wrestled the seat belt on.

"What took you so long Rogue?" Jean asked from the front seat. "We were about to leave without you."

"Got caught up talking to someone," Rogue answered, still panting, before leaning back in her seat and letting herself relax under the cool air from the A/C. Her reprieve, however, was cut short by Kurt piping up from his seat beside her.

"Jeez, how far did you run? Your face is all red."

"From the locker room," Rogue answered hastily, ducking her head to hide the blush that wasn't entirely from the running.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Kitty smirking at her, not at all convinced by Rogue's excuse, but thankfully she kept it to herself. A tap on her shoulder drew her attention to the back seat where Evan was smiling up at her.

"Don't tire yourself out just yet bud, gotta save some energy for the bad guys."

With a nod, Rogue went back to staring at her boot laces while the others speculated about who they were going to be facing. They settled pretty quickly on The Brotherhood, after someone brought up the sheer amount of mutant signatures, and the remainder of the ride lapsed into a peaceful silence.

"So we're sure something bad is happening?" Asked Bobby as the van pulled to a stop behind the mall.

Just as he finished his sentence, an earthquake rocked the van, forcing everyone to quickly unbuckle and pool out into the open parking lot.

"That answer your question?" Scott called over his shoulder as he rushed towards the nearest emergency exit.

Rogue and the others were quick on his heels, alert and ready to fight. They had hardly entered the building when the next quake hit and sent everyone stumbling.

Oh this is gonna be fun, Rogue thought.


End file.
